Andrew Boss Meat Lab #413 mechanical room #18 fire - update

Charred ceiling insulation removed by St. Paul Fire Department - click on photos to enlarge

Charred insulation on the floor of mechanical room #18.

Sequence of Events -

Late in the afternoon of Sunday March 16, 2014 an odor similar to a burnt light ballast was noticed in the first floor lobby of ABML (Andrew Boss Meat Lab) # 413.  An initial investigation of the area concluded that a burned out light ballast was the likely source of the odor.

FM MOD (mechanic on duty) Frank O'Gorman met with Dan Borash over their in bldg 413- ABML at or around 5:50 am to further check on source of smell. 

Once they discovered this was not a burnt ballast as first reported in rm 18. Dan contacted BSAC and was patched  to Emergency Communications (EC). Nathan (EC) was told of the issue and he dispatched St. Paul FD to the scene. 4-5 trucks responded with 8-10 firefighters. 

Dan and Frank helped the firefighters get into the area and provided the resources as requested. StPaul FD's main concern was getting an asbestos survey. Dan reached out to get accurate-updated information requested by the Fire Chief from our abatement folks Sean Gabor and to have EC contact DEHS and DEM for follow up and on site visit. 

St. Paul Fire Department applied a minimal amount of  water to the cellulose acoustic insulation on the ceiling of the mechanical room.  They checked the area with thermal imaging and found no more hot spots.  The fire department used fans to ventilate the smoke out of the building

Sean Gabor, FM asbestos, determined from asbestos building surveys that the ceiling insulation did not contain asbestos.   A later visual inspection of the space confirmed that no asbestos was impacted.

At 18:29 DEHS was contacted via police dispatch and told to call in for more information.  Dan Borash then later requested DEHS  assistance on the scene.  Dan indicated that DEM was notified by police dispatch.

Both Neil Carlson and Brian Vetter responded to the page.  Neil Carlson from DEHS responded in person at around 19:20 and met with Sean, Dan, Frank O'Gorman and the Chief from the St. Paul Fire department.

At the chief's request FM instituted a fire watch for the building.

Using an infrared thermometer from FM the charred insulation was surveyed again by the Frank G. and Neil C..  No insulation material was warmer than 105 degrees F.

The specific cause and start time of the fire is not known at this time.  An outside firm was installing a new refrigeration pump in the mechanical room.  There were acetylene torches and cutting equipment in the room. FM was doing welding on the north end away from the burned ceiling.

Brian Kroeger Captain/Fire investigator asked about the cause and dollar amount of damages. At the time Dan Borash could not give an accurate amount of damages or an exact statement on the specific cause, but they were in agreement it most likely was started from welding/grinding work being done sometime on Friday.   FM employees recalled observing sparks from the pipe grinding occurring on the south half of the room. 

FM and contract workers from Cool Water completed their work at approx. 2:15 pm on Friday.  They remained on fire watch until 2:45 pm on Friday.  At this time, no one else has indicated that anymore work occurred after Friday.  

DEHS, building codes and FM (Bill Polte) will  investigate the source of the fire on Monday as well as discuss the sequence of events with the contractor.

Sean Gabor and Neil Carlson left the scene at 20:15.

Ne w copper pipes installed in the ceiling of room #18