Fire forces terrace evacuation
A vehicle fire on the first level of the Aggie Parking Terrace forced an evacuation of the structure and two buildings above and brought in fire crews from five cities, Thursday afternoon, said Logan Fire Chief Mark Meaker.
The fire was confined to a single vehicle, a newer, gray Pontiac Grand Prix, with the majority of the damage concentrated on the front of the car. USU Police Chief Steve Mecham said he is confident arson was not involved, and the fire appears to be an accidental engine compartment fire. While there were no injuries or damage to other vehicles, Meaker said he estimates the damage to the Pontiac to be around $10,000. Visible damage included a destroyed hood and engine compartment, flattened tires and some damage to the base of the windshield.
“We anticipated this fire, we bought equipment for this fire and we trained for this fire, and when it came, these guys executed the way they were trained to do,” Meaker said. “They very professionally did what they were trained to do.”
Robert West, senior in park recreation and cadet in the Army ROTC, said he was first on the scene after driving down from the third floor of the parking terrace. He said he saw a glow and as he got closer, he realized a car was on fire. He said he got out and thought he saw something burning on the hood of the car. Grabbing a shovel from his truck, he said he went over to scoop the burning substance off and saw the engine was actually on fire.
“When I came up closer to it, I saw the hood was melted and there was a big old hole in it and the engine was on fire. That’s when I called 911 and pushed the emergency button,” West said.
Jo Olsen, junior in public relations, said he entered the elevator in the parking terrace and smelled smoke as he headed down to the lower levels. When he exited the elevator, which was near the location of the burning vehicle, he said the smoke was just above his head. He said he saw West and was told about the fire. They both looked for fire extinguishers, he said, but were not able to locate one.
A few minutes later a USU police officer arrived on the scene, Olsen said, and a few fire extinguishers were applied to the fire, which by this time was “engulfed in flames.” West said even with three fire extinguishers trained on the flames, the fire blazed on.
“A couple Utah State police came up and gave us a couple fire extinguishers but by then it was just too hot and the fire extinguishers didn’t do nothing,” West said. “It just stayed there and burned the hood. I was afraid it would burn the rest and blow up the gas. It was almost hitting the ceiling when I saw it.”
Meaker said an alarm was sounded at 4:37 p.m. and within four minutes, the first fire engine arrived on the scene, reporting heavy smoke. A second engine arrived a few minutes later by way of Darwin Ave. and reported smoke in Buildings C and D of the Living and Learning Center, causing a second alarm to sound, requesting additional fire crews.
“We did commit a second alarm assignment, so that gave us on scene about seven engines, two lighter trucks and about 50 firefighters,” Meaker said. “We could have handled the fire and its normal consequences with the first alarm, which would be about half that size, but when the engine got on top and reported smoke in the upper buildings, we pulled a second alarm as a precaution only. We really didn’t anticipate we’d really need it. But we’re in a business where if you get behind the power curve, and you decide you need more help and you call for it, then there’s a long lead time before it gets there.”
Fire crews from North Logan, Logan, Smithfield, Hyrum and Wellsville were dispatched to the scene, which is part of an automated aid agreement in the county, Meaker said.
Meaker said the parking terrace fire was the first of its kind in Cache County, and is a dangerous fire to fight.
“They’re very challenging and they’re hot and it’s dark because it’s basically a big fire inside a concrete oven,” Meaker said. “I will tell you this, you don’t want to spend very long fighting a fire inside a concrete mausoleum like that because this building almost drops immediately to the floor and you can’t see anything and it would be very easy to become disoriented and overcome by smoke.”
Meaker said part of the challenge in this fire was due to the low ceilings in the parking terrace, the length of hose needed to reach the fire, the small, cramped space that traps in heat and smoke, and the height of the structure.
“We have been aware of the potential for a fire in this building,” Meaker said. “Besides having four levels of parking garage, it also has four levels of living space above it in living space. Even though it’s separated from each other, it’s basically an eight-story high, high-rise building. Any time you have a high-rise fire, we have to do a lot of things quickly, which is why we brought in a heavy assignment.”
Even though the fire was quickly extinguished by fire crews, some fast-response options were missing, including the sprinklers and lack of fire extinguishers in the terrace. As far as the sprinklers go, Meaker said it takes some time for the sprinkler system to fully activate, and the sprinklers engaged at the same time the firefighters opened the nozzle.
Mecham said there were no fire extinguishers in the building. Meaker said the university is under the jurisdiction of the state fire marshall, and had no knowledge about why there were no extinguishers in the terrace.
“I was actually running around trying to find a fire extinguisher but there’s not a fire extinguisher at all,” West said. “None in the office here, nowhere at all. I was blown away there was no fire extinguisher.”
-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu