BY JEFF A. WELCH
On Thursday, December 2, 1999, at approximately 2245 hours, the Hayden Lake (ID) Fire Protection District responded to an incident that changed our way of thinking about fires in warehouse storage facilities. We responded to a 911 dispatch of an automatic alarm at the Louisiana Pacific Corporation warehouse, 13455 N. Government Way. The initial response to the alarm consisted of one engine with three personnel, an ambulance with two personnel, and the chief officer.
When Engine 521 arrived at the building, there was nothing showing. Lieutenant Mark Ghiraduzzi, the officer in charge, quickly realized smoke was coming from somewhere in the vicinity, and a firefighter on the ambulance saw someone flashing his headlights from the Louisiana Pacific warehouse approximately one block south. While responding to the warehouse, the lieutenant called for mutual aid from the Coeur d'Alene (ID) Fire Department and Kootenai County Fire Protective District (FPD), each of which would respond with an engine to the location. When Engine 521 entered the gate to the warehouse area, moderate smoke was coming from a building approximately 100 feet long by 200 feet wide and about 25 feet high of Type II, non-rated construction. A heat detection system was installed in the building.
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