 Pierre City Building Destroyed in Blaze By Tam Gatje (Pierre, SD) – The facility owned by the City of Pierre housing the solid waste baler, a recycling facility and storage for a number of city government departments was destroyed by fire the evening of April 27, 2002 and the early morning hours of April 28. The Pierre Fire Department was alerted to a report of smoke coming from the recycling center building about 9:17 pm Saturday, April 27. The Fire Department units began arriving at the facility just moments later. A police unit arriving on the scene said smoke was coming out of the entire length of the building.
The building was highly involved when the department arrived. A light wind was blowing from the north helping the fire to spread. Electrical power and gas services were shut down to remove fuel and ignition sources. Police officers shut down traffic around the burning facility. No traffic was allowed to go east on highway 34. The Dakota Minnesota and Eastern Railway was asked to stop their traffic east of Pierre because a large diameter fire hose was placed across the tracks.
Two entry teams were sent into the building to assess the fire status. After their inspection the fire chief elected to pull teams from the interior fire attack and work from the exterior. The evacuation signal was given telling all firefighters to immediately exit the building. Shortly after evacuation a portion of the roof collapsed. Mutual aid units from Fort Pierre and Hughes County Tanker
were called in to assist the firefighting effort.
About 8:00 am Sunday morning the fire hose crossing the railroad track and highway was removed allowing resumption of normal traffic. At about 11:20 am the fire department left the scene. They returned to extinguish small fires that popped up from the smoldering remains. Metal sheeting of the building prevented water from reaching some remaining hot pockets. Upcoming insurance fire cause investigation required the delay of disturbance of burned material. Approximately 70 firefighters from the three departments fought the fire. It was estimated that about two million gallons of water were used in extinguishing the fire. City officials are determining what equipment and supplies were in the building at the time of the fire. Damage to the building and the equipment stored in the building will probably be in excess of two million dollars. Fire Chief Russ Hendrix thanked the firefighters for their efforts. “Without the dedication of all of the firefighters much more could have been lost” he said. The city commission worked to find ways to immediately replace the functions of the lost building and equipment. They indicated services would continue with only minor changes in location. Pierre is the capitol city of South Dakota with a population of about 13,000 people and operates entirely with a volunteer fire department. It has an ISO rating of 3, the same rating as Sioux Falls and Rapid City. |
Fire
Command was established near the southeast corner of the facility. They
coordinated the arrival and placement of the incoming apparatus. Four engine
companies, a ladder company and a rescue company were initially dispatched.
Members
of the Pierre Fire Department fought the blaze in the converted potato warehouse
on the east edge of the city. The warehouse was constructed of wood and metal
frame with a sheet metal covering. The building had no firewalls or sprinklers.
Early
Sunday morning a backhoe and front-end loader were brought in to help in fire
scene overhaul. Overhaul is to seek out pockets of fire and extinguish them to
prevent further problems. 