Fire officials said Thursday that an efficient fire-sprinkling system at the Firestone Business Park prevented a dramatic fire from destroying the entire complex.
Firefighters were still mopping up at the site south of Salinas throughout the day Thursday, since the fire wasn't fully extinguished until 10:30 a.m., 16 hours after it was first reported. Investigators sifted through the ashes to determine the cause of the blaze that roared Wednesday night through an outdoor storage area where millions of cardboard and plastic containers were being kept.
Dorothy Priolo, deputy fire marshal for the Salinas Rural Fire District, said preliminary estimates of damage were set at $2 million, including the huge loss of cardboard boxes and at least 10 diesel truck trailers and flatbeds destroyed at the Robert Mann Packaging Co. storage yard.
"This is one of the worst fires I've seen in 26 years," said Capt. Scott Tyler of the Salinas Fire Department, who was among the approximately 100 firefighters from throughout the county working against the blaze Wednesday night.
It could have been much worse, said Priolo.
The wind-whipped fire lapped up against the rear exterior of the building and burned pallets full of cardboard next to a newly-installed propane tank sitting within 20 yards of the building.
The intense heat triggered the sprinkler system installed under the eaves of the Mann Packaging loading dock, thwarting the flames. And the propane tank vented when it was subjected to the high temperatures, shooting the gas through a safety valve and preventing an explosion that could have destroyed much more of the business park.
"Everything operated the way it was supposed to," said Priolo.
If the propane tank had exploded, the results would have been catastrophic, she said. Typical structure fires can reach temperatures of 2,000 degrees, she said.
"This fire was at least that and probably more, given the (energy) that burning cardboard can generate," she added.
The heat cracked the windshield and melted the plastic on a fire engine parked closest to the loading dock on Wednesday night.
Soon after the fire broke out, about 50 employees working at other businesses in the park were evacuated. No injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, a representative for a team of five investigators said late Thursday they did not know the cause of the blaze. Witnesses said Wednesday night that the fire seemed to have resulted from an explosion in the storage yard.
"I was loading the boxes on and putting straps on the truck," said Bob Warner, a truck driver from Oregon who was working in the storage yard when the fire first started.
"I got the third from the last strap when I thought I smelled smoke," he said. "I saw that a pallet was on fire and I called 911. The fire was huge so I moved the truck out of the way."
He was amazed by how fast the fire spread. "It was absolutely scary," he said.
The fire was first reported about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the yard, where thousands of pallets filled with flattened cardboard are kept in a 160,000 square-foot area.
The flames shot as high as 40 feet throughout the night, creating a spectacular light show throughout the Salinas Valley.
Firefighters allowed the storage area to burn itself out, and instead concentrated on efforts to save the building, Priolo said. Some bundles of cardboard were still burning as late as 10:30 a.m. Thursday, while firefighters checked the interior of the 200,000-square-foot building to make certain no embers were trapped inside.
Mann Packaging leases the rear lot and the back section of the Firestone building complex. Damage appeared to be limited to the Mann operation, though the box-making equipment within the building was spared from major damage, Priolo said.
The fire did destroy power lines leading to the business park. Crews from PG&E were on the scene early Thursday morning and businesses in the rest of the building were not allowed back until midday.
Soon after the fire was reported Wednesday, officials from the Salinas Rural Fire District sought assistance. In the end, more than 100 firefighters from all 27 fire agencies in the county responded, Priolo said.
