Walmart Warehouse Fire Audio - 5+ Alarms 3/16/2022 [Indiana] 

Amazing how everybody becomes an expert in the RU-vid comments.

I was at the Pittsboro Golf Course and saw the massive blaze from there. had the ash land in my front yard. crazy day for sure

The size of the building necessitated a 2nd alarm on arrival.

Having worked at a Walmart Distribution center for many years I am very familiar with the fire system and how it works. First you have to understand the fire suppression system has its limitations. It is designed to suppress an incipient stage fire. Most DCs have a wet sprinkler system which is supplied by a electric, diesel or both, fire pump which augments a municipal water mains pressure. There is usually a on site water tank which supplements this system with 200,000 gallons of water. The entire building is supplied off a closed loop water main which also supplies water to on site fire hydrants. When a sprinkler head is activated the fire pumps kick on and an alarm sounds on the fire panel. It will give the location of the riser that sprinkler head is activated. Security is usually sent to investigate this sprinkler head activation and determine if it's an actual fire, or a burst or damaged sprinkler head. This can take a few minutes. In the event off an actual fire a manual evacuation of the building is ordered. Associate accountability is up to individual managers and that's another issue given the size of the building. Listening to the first arriving units they experienced zero visibility in the fire area which is to be expected due to the ventilation system being shut off. This is an automated response to the fire alarm and sprinkler system being activated and it makes sense, you don't want to add more air to a working fire until you begin suppressing it. As the fire grows and more heat and smoke build up visibility becomes zero and you have to be able vent the heat and smoke out. In our DC the only way to override the ventilation system once it was in fire mode was with a manual key. Another issue is water supply. Once you have multiple sprinkler heads activated you are dumping thousands of gallons of water a minute inside that building, but because it's a closed loop system your fire hydrants on site are also fed by the same water main that is feeding the sprinkler system. Your fire apparatus is hooking up to hydrants with a very limited water supply to begin with. An outside water supply would need to be established right off the bat to supply water to on scene fire apparatus. Lack of knowledge of the building can also cause issues. So when the the pumps were shut down to increase water supply to fire apparatus if the fire wasn't completely extinguished it was easy for it to grow again given the huge fire load there.

I love the video

I’m not sure about the way this incident went down, but the guy in overall control was calm and collected throughout. Have to admit that it doesn’t sound good that everything gets switched off and opened up before the place burnt to the ground but there wasn’t any panic which is good to hear.

Charlie Foxtrot! The lost the building when they shut off the fire pumps too soon.

Sounds like the fire was running from them and they didn't realize til it was too late.

When the fire is out and the building is destroyed, that is not the time to figure out how to extinguish it. Firefighting needs to be built into every structure type and the fire department has to know what needs to be done before they get there. Buildings like this need to have ventilation systems built into the walls with mechanical access to them from the exterior by the fire department so they can be opened when water is ready to be applied. Water should never be a problem at any fire if the officers and structure planners are Thinking ahead instead of waiting to React.

“Shut the fire pump off and isolate these risers, we’re under control.” The lie detector determined that was a lie…

16:08 for the mayday call

Fire on the second floor, 200-300 feet inside the warehouse and sufficient to activate the sprinkers. IOW, you may have a 2-story structure fire inside a bigger structure. Since the interior crews did not report re-ignition and active fire. They were likely in a compartment with sprinklers activated and did not see any other fire. Also, they correctly left someone at the fire pump to restart it if things went sideways. They turned the pumps back on, but that did not extinguish the fire. Why? The original fire may have extended through a void to the warehouse roof - metal deck roof fire or insulation. If that's the case, that would be above the the sprinklers and shutting down the pump was not the cause. Metal deck roof fire, depending on the design, can drip flaming rubber/plastic onto combustibles as it runs the roof. It is clearly too soon to declare - from news reports and radio traffic- that shutting down the pumps was the cause. Side note - ladder companies really should have TICs to evaluate roof conditions. They may have picked up a hot spot if the fire was running the roof that the interior crew could not see.

What I know of this building. It has 3 or I believe 4 floors built inside of it. I know the inital building alarm was on the 2nd floor. It sounds like it had expanded into the 3rd if not the 4th floor when they called it under control and they were unaware of it. When they vented they did nothing but force feed it the oxygen it needed to burn through the roof and make the fire run. They may have gotten away sith limited cross ventilation across the first floor Dock Doors but opening all doors on that side and or not working with building staff to open the top exhaust vents may be the largest of the fatal moves in this fire. I also know this has been called the largest fire most of the departments in the area hve and likly ever will fight. I am sure there will be studying and training on this for years to come.

alarm - 0:00 Engine 142,71,83 Ladder 121,88 Battalion 120 Safety 80 Extra units - Medic 121, Ladder 84, Medic 122

The initial dispatch heard here in the audio is actually the 2nd alarm. 1st alarm isn’t heard on here

This fire was in the city of Plainfield, IN

Nice job shutting down the sprinklers without putting out the fire 👍👍

I feel horrible for the IC. They truly felt like they were doing the right thing. This is one of the reasons that I teach an independent class firefighting operations in buildings with sprinklers and standpipes. We need everyone to be trained.

I hate the computer generated dispatch. Good job by crews!

5:03 Spectralert advances.

6:25. Ordered ALL DOORS TO BE OPENED. That fed this fire and destroyed the building. It's that simple. Fire was NOT under control. It was in-between 2 and 3rd floors, and ran as soon as ALL THAT OXYGEN was introduced.

Sounds like an electrical issue in the walls or arson?

On scene nothing showing Building is charged with smoke we have a fire on the second floor Fire is under control shut down the risers they did that so they would have proper flow and proper pressure then they asked the pumps to be shut down and yes in buildings like that sprinklers are set up in zones what I don't understand is they said the fire was under control several times and said they were good the next thing you know they get a report the fire blowing through the roof now I wasn't there but I'm still wondering what the hell happened how did it go from being under control we're good to fire through the roof and we have fire blowing over the top of us that's what I don't understand I wasn't there I don't know what the circumstances were or why it took off on them like that but just listening to the radio traffic it makes you wonder what happened for the fire to take off like that in a normal structure I would say that it was running the attic and there may have been an attic in that second-story area but the rest of the warehouse doesn't have an attic It would be interesting to read the fire report when it is done after the investigation to see what happened and why it took off like that

Get Mike Pruitt there he knows all why bargersville hired him is anybody guess

I feel as if the building could have been saved it the Sprinkler System wasn’t turned off. People would have a place to come back to. Now almost 3000 people will be displaced. It’s just so sad.

How meany alarms did this go to

6:25 and prior, shut down risers and OPEN ALL DOORS. 14:00- fire through roof, TURN PUMPS BACK ON. THEY F**KED UP BIG TIME. THAT simple. This is Super Sofa Fire all over again.

Might need to go back to Fireman school.

lol at the interior attack team saying fire u/c and open up the bay doors for vent 7:30 12:10 interior attack team again confirms fire is u/c that is a big oops 🤣🤣🤣

Great job this fire was so bad great job by all first responders

Hmmmm?