4-Alarm fire in Lemont – 4/21/16 « chicagoareafire.com

4-Alarm fire in Lemont – 4/21/16

From Rick Moravecek:

Pics of Lemont 4-11 on April 21, 2016 at Harlem Furniture warehouse at Internationale and Davies Rd. in Woodridge.

Rick Moravecek photo

Rick Moravecek photo

Rick Moravecek photo

Rick Moravecek photo

Rick Moravecek photo

Lisle-Woodridge FPD firefighters at a fire

Rick Moravecek photo

Tags: 4-Alarm fire in Lemont, fire guts furniture warehouse in Lemont, fire guts The Room Place furniture warehouse, Lemont Fire Department, Lockport Township Fire Protection District, Rick Moravecek, Tri-State Fire Protection District

This entry was posted on April 24, 2016, 7:00 AM and is filed under Apparatus on-scene, Fire Scene photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Comments (and 3 trackbacks)

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#1 by B Murphy on April 24, 2016 - 10:26 PM

Also, in Photo #4 (4th from the top) you can just make out the sprinkler system components in the center of the picture (FDC, fire pump test header, etc.).
#2 by B Murphy on April 24, 2016 - 10:20 PM

In response to HARKEY’s question if the building was sprinklered: go to Google Maps Street View, type in either the building address or company’s name, and you’ll be able to see the front (A) side of the building along Internationale. You can clearly see, at the front of the building, an FDC Siamese, fire pump test header and outside control valve, and fire alarm horn/strobe. Obviously something failed in the building’s fire protection scheme. When sprinklered buildings are destroyed by fire some of the common factors include a failure of the incoming water supply, failure of the fire pump system (when so equipped), failure of the sprinkler system risers and piping, closed control valves, or a fire load or storage arrangement that exceeds the hydraulic design/capacity of the sprinkler system. It will take some time to determine what happened, and rest assured the insurance carrier or carriers involved will work diligently to figure it all out, given the huge monetary loss and the potential for subrogation.

Although rare, these types of losses do occur. A recent example is the GE Appliance Park warehouse fire near Louisville last year. If you can find the investigators report, and subsequent responses from GE and the subcontractors involved, it’s a very enlightening fire protection case study.

Kudos, BTW, to the IC and command staff at the Room Place fire- from the aerial photos it appeared that collapse zones were identified and enforced early on. As the late Frank Brannigan always said: “The building is your enemy; Know Your Enemy!”
#3 by Brian on April 24, 2016 - 7:12 PM

The town of Woodridge is covered by numerous Fire Districts. For sure Lemont, Lisle-Woodridge and Darien-Woodridge. Not sure if Bolingbrook or Downers Grove have any areas they cover in Woodridge or not.
#4 by Tom Foley on April 24, 2016 - 6:46 PM

I was surprised it ended up causing as much damage and spread as quickly as it did, even despite having furniture inside.

I did hear they went defensive early on.

Another interesting fact is that while the physical address was Woodridge, it is within Lemont’s jurisdiction.
#5 by Jeff Harkey on April 24, 2016 - 11:51 AM

Was this a sprinklered occupancy?
#6 by Eric Haak on April 24, 2016 - 11:03 AM

Great work by the photographer! Especially getting that new Tri-State engine working its first job. What a way to break it in.
#7 by Rich on April 24, 2016 - 10:05 AM

What departments responded and what truck company? Any squad? I think removille still has a squad .