Blaze, listed as ‘unintentional’ causes $40 million in damage
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
Approximately $40 million in damages is the number included in the City of Burlington report of the fire that began Jan. 30 at Echo Lake Foods and remained a concern for almost a week before all hot spots were extinguished.
The 17-page report lists everything from the time the first alarm was issued to when the final unit left the scene. Included are several pages of narrative, as well as estimates of losses, aid given and causes of the fire.
According to the report, Echo Lake Foods suffered $30 million in property losses and about $10 million in contents loss – out of a possible $40 million pre-incident value in property and $15 million in contents.
Echo Lake Foods General Manager Jerry Warntjes said Tuesday evening that a number has not yet been received from the insurance company for compensation.
The report detailed the number of firefighting trucks and departments arriving on scene, both in the initial response as well as the various Mutual Aid Box Alert System (MABAS) calls made. In total, City of Burlington Fire Chief Dick Lodle said the fire was eight alarms-plus.
The fifth alarm was requested by command one hour, 38 minutes into the incident, with visible flames coming through the roof on one side of the structure. Firefighters reported heavy fire on two of the four sectors at that time.
The fire department estimated shortly after the fire that around 100 departments sent help to the scene. Those departments went as far out as Evansville and Beloit, Eagle, Turtle, Middleton, Palmyra and Watertown, and also involved arson and hazardous materials crews being called to the scene.
In the final narrative, officials said several of the product tanks on site sustained heavy heat and smoke damage, but the nitrogen tanks on site were far enough from the building to have no visible damage, and the ammonia tanks had no release of any kind.
There was a small release of ammonia from residue remaining in the factory pipelines after maintenance drew it out at the start of the incident. Lodle compared it to dregs of water left in a water hose after turning it off.
A total of 3.5 million gallons was drawn from the City of Burlington municipal water system, and 1.5 million gallons from Echo Lake itself.
In the final pages of the report, the cause of ignition is listed as unintentional, with no human factors contributing to the ignition. Detectors and sprinkler systems were in place, but sprinklers were not installed in the older part of the plant, and therefore, did not play a factor where the fire was.
Lodle said that the older area was not required to be retrofitted with sprinklers.
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