McDonalds Fire Niles MI 2004 

Typical McDonald's, I saw some cars still waiting in line😂

its on for a limited time, like the micrib.

Ya they wanted to be like Burger King

that too, plus all the plastics. this fire was started by a maintenance worker using a torch to thaw out a freezer evaporator coil, inside a walk in box.

Yeah they had a snowball chance in hell of stopping this one at the outset.

the firemen were waiting for the roof to burn through, so the fire would vent vertically. those guys knew that this building was going to be a total loss. just think, if this place had a sprinkler system, none of this would have happened.

@@erickaegi629 You're probably right. Risk nothing to save nothing.

I do as well! I really hate how they have modernized so many of these restaurants so they look so "dull" compared to the red roofs with "French Fry" lights other features of the classic McDonald's style.

The plastic food.

Fast food worker here. There IS a lot of plastic in restaurants, especially this one, since it had a playplace, and those big plastic tubes for climbing and sliding. But there is a LOT of grease in places like those, too. And not just in the fryers/grills. Even with the filters and ventilation systems, even when the place is clean, it's still there. It aerosolizes, and permeates everything, especially porous surfaces, (That, along with microbe control, which is why you don't usually see much of those kinds of surfaces, in restaurants, as vinyl, plastic, and especially stainless steel-which you'll almost always see in restaurant kitchens-are much easier to clean, and much more resistant to harboring germs and smells.) It's the same reason why, if you've ever been in an old restaurant, you can still smell food, even long after the place was closed, and they stopped cooking. When you cook with that much grease, especially fryers, and meats which create their own grease, for that many people, for that long, it's inevitable. And if the crew/maintenance hasn't been cleaning properly, there could be grease caked on fryer/grill hoods, behind the machines, on the floors. Add to that whatever grease got splashed/dripped around, while the employees were working, plus a stock area full of tons of extra paper wrappers, paper and cardboard boxes, paper wrapped plastic straws, paper napkins, paper and plastic cups, plastic lids, toys (which can be made of paper, plastic, or fabric), plastic bags, and all other manner of flammable items, as well as quick, cheap construction methods for the buildings themselves, and I'm not surprised that restaurants go up in flames as quickly as they do. Yes, there are fire retardation systems, operated both manually, and automatically, over all heat sources (fryers, grills, broilers, etc). But they can only handle so much. If the fire is started somewhere else though, as this one was, your only hope is that someone knows where a fire extinguisher is, and how to use it. And either way, if that fire gets out of control, it has PLENTY of fuel to feed and grow on. Having said that, though, at every place I've ever worked, restaurants take care to keep things as clean as possible, both for fire safety, and the aforementioned microbe control reasons. And filters and vents are cleaned regularly, and fire retardant systems serviced on a schedule. I've been in the business for 25 years, and the only fires I've ever seen were a few small, quickly contained mulch fires, caused by customers carelessly throwing their cigarette butts into the landscaping, and once, during the 2020 race riots, a sister store got hit by a molotov cocktail. Fortunately, that last one happened after close, so no one was in peril (except the firefighters, ofc), and it was extinguished with damage contained to only the drive-through window area, and the side of the building. That store still had to close for a short time. But they were still lucky it wasn't much worse.

Cheap, flimsy construction, plus years of grease, and a stockroom full of flammables. See my replay above.

that is common to put hvac systems on the roof, and they are not light weight either. I have seen in older buildings with steel I beam/ corrugated metal roof construction where the fire was so hot, the I beams sagged down to the ground because of the weight of the hvac equipment.

why would you think that maintenance had something to do with a fire more like could cause from a greace fire may cause it not be clear properly if some manager did not clean up garbage around the electrical source

@@jenniferwhite6089 Read the first sentence. it says it was started buy a maintainance guy with a torch thawing frozen pipes

I have never been impressed with the "RONNIE BURGER" maintenance guys, most of these "RONNIE BURGER" joints are franchised, and they have their own maintenance people.

You’re 100% correct When they Honk like that that means emergency evacuation and everyone that is inside needs to leave the building immediately it is getting to dangerous for them to be inside

Three short blasts followed by one long blast: Evac (evacuation) tone. Though I've seen slightly different variations, from city to city. But you're right, they all mean the same thing-GET THE HELL OUT, NOW, the building is not safe!

Now I know the had to wait gir thr roof to ho so thr can fide the seat of the fire.

LOL

If I’m not mistaken, what looks like a mansard roof on the typical McDonalds are actually truss roofs. While vertical ventilation is an important tactic, it’s not a good idea to put guys on a truss roof.

The building wasn't tall enough to necessitate a tower ladder.

the firemen were waiting for the roof to burn through, so the fire would vent vertically. there was no way to save this building, due to the way it was constructed, it went up like a match stick, and was stubborn to put out.

Stupid thing didn’t work anyway

That’s a good one😮

Wendy from Wendy's...

nope , this fire was started by a maintenance man using a torch to thaw out a freezer evaporator coil in side the freezer walk in box.

@@gregoryclemen1870 you tease now smooth move ex lax.