"Zis will teach zose stupeed Amereecans..."
Posted on 10/12/2005 11:12:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) - A fire tore through a warehouse on Mare Island on Wednesday, threatening millions of dollars worth of vintage wines and other goods.
The fire at the 240,000-square-foot facility started at about 3:40 p.m. at Wine Central Services, which stores wine for Bay Area wineries.
About 80 firefighters were battling the blaze into the night and hoped to have the fire contained by Thursday morning. Three employees were safely evacuated from the building and there were no reports of injuries.
"This is a classic type of fire where firefighters could really get hurt," Vallejo Fire Chief Don Parker said.
Jack Krystal, the chief executive of Wine Central Services, told the Vallejo Times-Herald that there were hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine, sugar, pasta and other goods valued at several million dollars. The extent of damage was not immediately known.
Authorities said no other structures were threatened because the wine facility is in an isolated location of Mare Island, a former Naval shipyard that has been developed with houses.
Firefighters hadn't determined the cause of the blaze.
I went to school there while in the Navy.
I spent a year in DS school, and bunked in the old Marine
Barracks.. 1973
...multiple mezzanine levels with numerous 10' by 70' bays are available for the exclusive use of our customers to store vintage library stock, private wine collections and wine barrels.
Some collectors are getting very nervous about their vintages.
State-of-the-Art security, fire and temperature monitoring systems.
Apparently not.
We are planning a big event, no date yet!
Talk about eerie foreshadowing.
What did you do?
"Zis will teach zose stupeed Amereecans..."
I took a boat through Mare Island.
The good news is that my "Two-buck Chuck" is safe.
Dear God, noooooo!
Between that and the chocolate spill can it get any worse?
It's the end times, I tells ya!
You can see the old shop design (crane rails, wood floors, wood roofs, wood frames) in the photo at their website.
No wonder it burned.
5 years at Mare in the mid 80's as nuclear ship superintendent, EDO school.
Update
Wine warehouse burns
Five-alarm fire threatens up to $100M in goods
By J.M. BROWN, Times-Herald staff writer
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_3112238
A massive five-alarm fire ripped through a 240,000-square-foot wine storage warehouse and historic former Navy facility on Mare Island Wednesday, endangering up to $100 million worth of high-quality vintage wine and other goods.
Three employees were safely evacuated after the fire erupted at 3:40 p.m. inside Wine Central Services, which is housed in Building 627, where parts of the atom bomb were kept six decades ago.
The fire, the most expensive in the city's history, was contained at about 10 p.m., but crews planned to remain on scene through the night.
Two Vallejo firefighters were treated for minor injuries.
Roughly 80 firefighters from Vallejo and at least five other cities on the Solano County Strike Team participated in fighting the fire..
Investigators could not immediately determine an exact cause, but fire commanders said roofing work conducted earlier in the day could be a factor.
After learning no one was inside the facility, Fire Chief Don Parker said he ordered crews to fight the blaze "defensively," meaning not to approach the flames until the scope of the blaze could be determined. The building has no sprinkler system.
"This is a classic type of fire where firefighters could really get hurt," Parker said, adding that crews would salvage as much of the warehouse's assets as possible.
CEO Jack Krystal, who moved Wine Central Services to the site three years ago, estimated there were several hundred thousand bottles of wine as well as sugar, pasta and other goods inside.
He hestitated to estimate the value of the stored goods, but fire department spokes-man Bill Tweedy said Krystal told fire officials the stock was worth between $50 million and $100 million.
The extent of damage was not immediately known, but fire officials estimated at least half the facility was involved in fire.
Shocked employees stood crying as they watched trails of dark smoke billow from the roof and metal sliding doors of the warehouse in the 600 block of Azuar Drive.
Columns of smoke poured into mainland Vallejo and clouded Highway 37, but authorities said no traffic collisions were reported as a result.
Crews from 20 engines were dousing the flames from inside the three-floored facility and atop four ladder trucks that sprayed the roof. Sanitation crews were called in after rivers of wine spilled into storm drains outside the warehouse, but authorities said there was no contamination of the city's water supply.
Firefighters could not immediately knock down the flames because of the facility's size and openness, Assistant Fire Chief Ray Dandridge said.
"We don't know where it's spreading," Dandridge said. "There's nothing to stop it."
Fueled by cardboard and plastic used to package the wine, the fire latched onto wooden beams that made up much of the middle floor, Dandridge said. Despite the alcohol content, the wine was not fueling the blaze.
The company's general manager, Debbie Polverino, described a frightening scene as flames, accompanied by a powerful draft, encased the building.
After coming inside from collecting the mail, Polverino could not close the front door due to the forced air, which pulled her sandals off her feet and scattered the mail.
"I thought it was a tornado," Polverino said.
On just his third day on the job, forklift operator Terry Simmons was loading a palette of goods onto a truck inside the warehouse when he saw flames several hundreds feet away. "I've never seen a fire like that in my life," said Simmons, who ran for the door.
Special projects coordinator Jennifer Cumman wept as she thought about the warehouse's many collections owned by the company's roughly 150 clients.
"There's irreplaceable stuff in there," said Cumman, an American Canyon resident who had already gone home for the day but returned. "I could see it from my house. I flew over here."
While grateful no one was seriously hurt, CEO Krystal said he was "appalled" by the blaze, which he called "very seriously suspicious." He said he does not believe the fire was set by an em-ployee, and said roof workers had left hours earlier.
Krystal, who rescued the former Navy facility from abandonment several years ago, said he wanted "to grab a hose and start spraying water. I could walk in there with my eyes closed."
In Mare Island's heyday during World War II, Building 627 was the most secure facility at the former shipyard because it housed secret military plans, Vallejo historian Lou Burgelin said.
In 1945, parts of the atom bomb were stored inside the building before they were shipped by the U.S.S. Indianapolis into the Pacific Theater and moved onto the B-29 "Enola Gay" for the Hiroshima bombing, he said.
Built in 1942, the building has movable cranes and thick concrete walls, floors and ceilings and heavy steel doors that open to allow rail cars inside. Besides private wine collectors, the company has stored goods for the Francis Ford Coppola brand of pastas and sauces and C&H Sugar.
In 69-70 I lived off base with my new wife and got by nicely on $352/mo.
$2 buck chuck....
totally arson
Are those wood roofs? You would think the sprinkler systems could handle a slow moving fire....but not one with accellerant.
They talk about pressure testing the sprinklers in those buildings, we are at a similar looking site in Los Angeles...but who knows if the sprinklers will actually work.
Building 500 for three years. (The big blue building outside the industrial gate.)
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