BIG Warehouse Fire West of Downtown Dallas-Alford Refrigreation

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

This is a big cold storage wearhouse complex, about 3 city blocks long and maybe 3 buildings deep, I defenitely know that parts were 2 buildings deep with docks on all sides of the buildings. I guess this complex was first built in the late 30's early 40's and has been in use until the owners went bancrupt several years ago. News reported that they are tearing it down and for some reason someone was using a cutting torch, I guess to remove scrap metal, in the demo job and set the thing on fire. Started around 1:30 or so but still going on after 4pm sending massive amounts of black smoke into the air.

This thing is right behind where the old Sportatorium was and part of it fronts Industrial Blvd and runs all the way down from Cadiz to Corinth. So this is kind of West and Southwest of Downtown Dallas maybe 1.5 miles away.
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?q1...f=0&compass=se
It covers pretty much the area from Cornith to Cadiz and between Industrial and the RxR track so it was a BIG complex. Said over 100 firefighters there and I don't think it involved all the buildings since there are several groups of buildings and the complex didn't run the whole length as one unit but was several buildings fronting Industrial. Maybe Google Maps would show it better if someone wants to pull that photo up.

The guy that had the longhorns at his gas station on some land right behind it a couple years ago was right around there. Not much in that area other than a few scrap yards and ORR Reed Wrecking and a few automotive shops and a couple bars so not much at risk from the sparks but they have to contain it and kill the fire off. Since it had been closed down the reporter talking to one of the Chiefs said that they were being real cautious on how they are fighting it since it is an older stucture but it does have a lot of concrete in it which should help them though the insulation used I believe is flammable. May drive by tommorrow and try to get some aftermath shots, just can't get into that mess on crutches today.

Wonder who didn't know how to handle a torch?

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Just looked at Google Maps of the buildings and each one was over 200 ft deep by up to 1/2 mile long so these are BIG buildings, not sure if all are involved are just one or two but the chopper shot looks like at least one of the longer ones is burning.

Google pic had to be from a while back because it shows trucks at the docks that day, but I also think the pic shows the old Sportatorium still standing and that was torn down years ago.

The warehouses in the pic have dark rooves if your trying to figure out what buildings are burning and they run northeast of Industrial (above the street or upper part of photo). To try to shoot this now you would be better going over to Lamar for a distance shot and if you could get onto the Roof of Southside (old Sears Warehouse on Lamar) or one of the western facing lofts you would have a great view of the fire about 1/2 a mile away.

[Firegirl]

Sure does save a lot of demolition work. Wouldn't surprize me in the least if it was a "slip- of -the- torch."

[RightAngle]

Originally Posted by Firegirl

Sure does save a lot of demolition work. Wouldn't surprize me in the least if it was a "slip- of -the- torch."

that is what I thought as soon as I saw it

[scott1120]

If the building was being demo'd, why send over 100 firefighters and risk injury?

[Firegirl]

Well, it still has to be controlled. We are in the extinguishing business. The question of "why not let it burn?" has come up before. While it makes sense sometimes, it's just not what we do. Unless it's a large amount of some sort of fuel that will burn itself out.
No firefighters are in that building nor will they go in, not worth the inherent danger. I was out there this morning to take some shots and they are squirting lots of water while waiting for the wrecking crew so they can get to the few remaining hot-spots.

[garyb50]

Here's the 1st of 5 shots I put up on Pbase: http://www.pbase.com/garyb50/image/81175671

It was quite dramatic.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Went by there late this afternoon and took a few shots, will post them tonight or tommorrow on my Pbase account, and did not realize that they had already demolished about 70% of the structure. IF THAT WHOLE OLD COLD STORAGE WAREHOUSE HAD BEEN STANDING then that would have been a HUGE fire vs the smaller building that went down. It still is a big fire and was still putting out quite a bit of flame around 3:30 this afternoon a full 26 hours after the fire started and of course pouring that brown cloud of smoke over downtown Dallas, some fire dept people think that they will be pouring water on it till this weekend.

Saw at least 5 hook and ladder trucks with snorkels on the ladders spraying water on it still this afternoon. This rain is knocking the smoke down some and they had a heavy rain downpour for about 15 minutes as I was driving over this afternoon. I really wish they had Lamar open and I could have gotten to the Gilleys Parking lot since that is pretty much above the fire and just a couple blocks away but the police have Lamar closed because of health concerns about the smoke (may try again tommorrow). If anyone knows of anyone who lives in the Southside Lofts and they can get onto the roof that would be a great vantage point to shoot from.

[Firegirl]

I took these between 7 and 8 this morning.

Oops I see now I'm a little crooked on the tower.....

[Firegirl]

Ok, should be a little more straight.

Dang...looks like I corrected it and still posted the wrong one.