Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department
Chief James Akin
Personnel: Three career firefighters, 36 volunteer firefighters
Apparatus: Six engines, one aerial, one TeleSqurt, two tankers, two brush trucks, one rescue, one utility, one personnel van, one air truck
Population: 48,000
Area: 224 square miles
On Nov. 7, 1996, the largest fire to ever strike Nelson County, KY, occurred at the historic Heaven Hill Distillery just south of Bardstown. Despite the efforts of more than 125 firefighters from 26 departments, the fire destroyed seven warehouses, numerous distillery buildings and 34 vehicles. At the height of the fire, buildings covering more than 40 acres were involved.
Approximately 95,300 barrels (4.3 million gallons) of whiskey were destroyed. Damage was estimated between $150 million and $200 million. Firefighters faced not only numerous structural and vehicle fires but also a large flammable-liquids blaze from the burning alcohol.
Intense Flames And Heat
The Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to a reported warehouse fire at the distillery on Loretto Road (State Route 49) at 2:03 P.M. Minutes before the dispatch, the National Weather Service had issued a severe storm warning for high winds and heavy rain.
Fire Chief James Akin arrived on the scene three minutes later and observed heavy smoke coming from Warehouse I, set atop a 40-foot-high hill with several other warehouses. The interior was heavily involved with fire on the top four floors of the seven-story warehouse. Flames were causing the composition roof to boil and melt. Due to the intensity of the fire, Akin decided not to attack the flames in Warehouse I but to set up defensive operations to try to protect Warehouse J, about 250 feet away.
Warehouse I was 50 feet high, measured 85 feet by 170 feet and contained 18,650 barrels of whiskey. The 40-year-old building was constructed of heavy timber with metal siding and a composition roof. There were no sprinklers, smoke or heat detectors in the warehouses.
Inside the warehouse, wooden barrels, each containing 45 gallons of whiskey, were stored on racks constructed of six-inch oak timbers. (Each warehouse held up to 20,000 of these barrels, which were stored there for aging purposes.) The warehouse had a wooden walkway in the center for storing and removing barrels in the racks. A stairway and an elevator to each of the seven floors were located inside the main entrance in the south end of the building to transport the full whiskey barrels to the dunage racks on each floor. The wooden roof was covered with tar paper and many layers of tar coating.
First-in Bardstown Pumper 37 was instructed to lay a five-inch supply line from a private plant hydrant at the distillery bottling plant to the open area between Warehouses J and K, about 250 feet apart. Pumper 37 laid its full 711 feet of five-inch supply line; Bardstown Pumper 31 put down 700 feet of five-inch hose and Bardstown Pumper 33 stretched 400 feet of five-inch line to complete the 1,800-foot lay. This hydrant was on the plant fire protection system and supplied by a 1,500-gpm fire pump with water from a 230,000-gallon tank.
Engine crews placed two 1 1/2-inch lines into operation on the outside (side two) of Warehouse J and an interior attack team pulled a skid load consisting of a 50-foot 21/2-inch hose line wyed to two 150-foot 1 1/2-inch lines inside the warehouse and up the stairs to the seventh floor in an effort to stop the exposure fire. Akin also requested a plant backhoe to build a dike around side one of Warehouse I to stop the flow of the whiskey should it overflow the containment area inside the building. Intense heat from the fire, however, made it impossible for the dike to be completed. Firefighters from Pumper 31 placed two 150-foot 1 1/2-inch pre-connected lines into operation on the west (side two) of Warehouse J. Within 15 minutes, Warehouse J was starting to burn 40 feet above the ground along with the roof.
Not wanting to risk firefighters' safety, Akin ordered the interior attack teams to withdraw from the structure at 2:35 P.M. Exterior lines were kept in operation until the crews had evacuated the building. As firefighters were picking up lines, the wind-driven flames became too intense for them and they had to abandon their position. All apparatus were safely removed with the exception of Pumper 33, which sustained blistered paint. Eight hundred feet of five-inch hose, 1,700 feet of 11/2-inch and 21/2-inch hose, six nozzles and three self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) were destroyed in this area. The warehouse was being superheated by the flames and became fully involved within 15 minutes.
At 2:33, Warehouse I started to collapse from the front to the back. The containment area in the warehouse was not deep enough to hold the burning liquid and all of the collapsing debris. As the burning liquid was forced out of the containment pit, it flowed "like a river of lava" several feet wide and at least 18 inches deep, Akin said. The burning alcohol flowed out of Warehouse I, down the hill (a 40-foot elevation difference) and surrounded Warehouses C and D, igniting both of them at 2:44.
By this point, winds were blowing at 50 to 75 mph. Akin and First Assistant Chief Anthony Mattely decided against trying to protect Warehouse K but instead chose to position aerial master streams between K and Warehouses W and X, which were closest to the bottling plant, a liquid storage tank facility and case-good warehousing.
Bardstown Aerial 45, a 100-foot aerial with a 1,500-gpm pump, was set up to protect Warehouse W. The aerial was supplied by the original five-inch supply line that was laid to the front of Warehouse J. Okolona Aerial 8051, a 75-foot aerial, was set up to protect Warehouse X and supplied by a 1,840-foot length of five-inch supply line stretched from a nearby lake.
At the lake, a Willisburg pumper was operating at draft with six-inch hard auction. This engine also pumped two 150-foot 2 1/2-inch lines that were tied into a wye to fill tankers from Rolling Fork and Bardstown-Nelson County that were shuttling water to a drop tank feeding Bardstown Squrt 30, set up on Loretto Road and protecting the south end of Warehouse X with its aerial master stream. A 1,000-gpm pumper from Lebanon relay-pumped in the 1,840-foot supply line 600 feet from Willisburg's engine. Lebanon's pumper was also hooked up to a municipal hydrant but an adequate water supply was never able to be established to supply the Shepherdsville aerial, which was staged. If this defensive stand were to fail, seven mutual aid departments were positioned at the bottling plant to stop the fire. Seven other departments were on standby at Station 1 in Bardstown.
Akin also requested two bulldozers and several backhoes to be staged north of the bottling plant to build dikes to keep the flowing alcohol away from these buildings. Several EMS units were also staged there. If the fire were to consume these facilities, it would next flow into the city's waste water treatment plant and the forest.
Mutual aid companies from New Haven and Rolling Fork were positioned on Loretta Road, 200 feet north of the distillery buildings. It was hoped that by using hoselines, the water would force the flow of burning alcohol to the west side of the road and keep the river of fire away from the distillery buildings and Warehouses A and B. Akin decided this position would be too dangerous for firefighters as they could be overrun with the flowing liquid. As crews evacuated the area, a 1,000-gallon drop tank, 500 feet of 2 1/2-inch hose, 250 feet of 1 1/2-inch hose and nozzles were left behind and eventually destroyed by fire.
Just as Akin had predicted, the river of burning alcohol from the five warehouses on the hill above the distillery buildings flowed down the 40-foot slope, across Loretta Road and into the area of the distillery buildings. As these buildings burned, the burning alcohol continued to flow down the hill and the two oldest warehouses in the complex, A and B, ignited and burned to the ground. These structures were built in the 1930s. A historic home used as a bed-and-breakfast inn and located 150 yards behind Warehouses A and B on the hill sustained minor roof damage from flying embers. Mutual aid units were also staged there. Heavy rain from thunderstorms that had passed through the area prevented other fires from being ignited by the flaming debris that was blown as far as five miles from the scene.
Upon determination that there was no further danger of the fire spreading, the incident was declared under control at 5 P.M., even though fires continued to burn for three days. Mutual aid departments began leaving the scene at 6 P.M. Watch crews remained on the scene throughout the night, extinguishing fires in the distillery complex buildings.
The size of the incident made it difficult for Akin to obtain a full picture of what was happening. Even though the fireground was broken into sectors, communications were difficult as three different channels were being used. At one point, Akin went aloft in a Mead County Sheriff's Department helicopter to get an overall view of the scene but due to the weather conditions and the firestorm this was not effective.
By then, it was decided to let the fires burn themselves out, as the application of water would only spread the burning alcohol. Also, the alcohol was burning clean and there would be no environmental impact. If the fires were extinguished, hazardous vapors would continue to be emitted and the chance of reignition was very high. The pools of alcohol and water would have to be cleaned up by an environmental contractor.
In The Aftermath
Despite the intensity of the fire, only two firefighters suffered minor injuries. Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) arrived on the scene at 3:30 that afternoon. ATF agents, along with local police, fire officials, the state fire marshal's office and a Jefferson County, KY, arson dog carried out a week-long probe. Investigators have not determined an exact cause of the fire even though Warehouse I was completely dug out.
Akin said he believes that if the wind had not been blowing so hard that day, the fire could have been contained to Warehouse I. He also thinks that even with the three warehouses burning, had they not been located on top of a hill, the fire could have been contained to them. Ironically, the plant fire hydrant that was used to supply the original attack lines and Aerial 45 had been scheduled to be put out of service for maintenance that day but was still in service due to the bad weather.
Firefighters were able to save 18 warehouses and the bottling plant. Plans were being developed for repairing the buildings that were damaged and replacing those that were destroyed.
Jay K. Bradish, a Firehouse® contributing editor, is a former captain in the Bradford Township, PA, Fire Department. He has been a volunteer firefighter and fire photographer for 22 years.
