Contact: Lt. Doug Dickerson, PIO Date:
August 8, 2001
Office: 214-670-7949 Immediate Release
Pager: 214-670-4115, pin# 9885
Three Alarm Fire Damages
Science Place Building at Fair Park
Date of Incident: August 8, 2001
Location: 1318 2nd
Avenue The Science Place Building at
Fair Park
Times: 1st
Alarm – 5:18 p.m. 2nd Alarm
– 5:38 p.m. 3rd Alarm – 5:39
p.m.
Under Control @ 6:20 p.m.
Cause: An electrical spark
ignited vapors from a container of contact glue that had
been spilled earlier in the day.
Injuries: None
Damages: 10,000--Structure
7,500--Content
Details: A container of contact
glue had been spilled earlier in the day in a shop/repair area in the lower
level of the building. While preparing
to close that area at the end of the day a worker noticed the spill and then
unplugged an electrical cord in the room.
A spark ignited the vapors that were present in the room and started a fire. Attempts were made to extinguish the fire
and the fire alarm system in the building was triggered. There were no sprinklers in this area of the
building. Dallas Fire-Rescue was
initially dispatched to check out the alarm going off. Upon arrival, firefighters were notified
that there was an actual fire in the building and they requested a full
one-alarm fire response. Initial crews
had to stretch hoses over 500 feet from the entrance through smoky conditions
to reach the area on fire. Realizing that
it would take a few minutes to actually reach the fire and not knowing the full
extent of the building’s involvement in fire, a 2nd and 3rd
alarm was requested for additional resources.
Once the fire was reached, it was contained to that shop/repair area but
there was a considerable amount of smoke throughout the building. Approximately 45 visitors and workers were
in the building when the fire started and all were able to evacuate safely. There were no injuries reported during this
incident.