Sprinklered Records Storage Facility (Chicago, Illinois - October 29, 1996) » Building Description

Brambles Information Management was one of the tenants in a several-block long complex of connected or adjacent fire resistive and noncombustible buildings. The complex was once a large printing plant that incorporated tall single story, two story and three story buildings.

The fire occurred in the largest of several fire areas occupied by Brambles, used to store cardboard boxed paper, photographic, and financial records for clients. Building construction in the area of origin was essentially fire resistant and, although significantly damaged, did not collapse during or after the fire. The front part of the building facing Knox Avenue was a single story about 25 feet high and was one bay deep. (See Figure 1 in Appendix A ) This area had a concrete roof supported by steel columns which were partially framed into the exterior masonry walls and were unprotected along the interior column line. Roughly half of the building was two stories high, with the first floor having a clear height of 25 to 28 feet and the second floor measuring 12 to 15 feet tall. There was a reinforced concrete floor between the first and second floors which was supported by concrete columns. The roof of the second floor was also concrete on concrete columns.

The building area to the east of the brick separation wall was a tall single story noncombustible segment with a height of approximately 40 feet. It had a flat gypsum deck roof supported by unprotected steel bar joist and beams. The beams rested on the outside masonry wall and the brick separation wall between the front and rear storage areas. The seperation wall had two unprotected openings, one about 12 feet wide and 10 feet high, used to move records between storage areas and the other opening was 40 inches wide and 7 feet tall.

The north and south common walls between adjacent fire areas were masonry - mostly brick - with sufficient thickness and construction to obtain a 3 to 4 hour fire resistance rating. Openings in these walls were protected by class A fire doors, often with a door on each side of the wall. A large unprotected door opening (about 12 feet wide by 28 feet tall) was discovered in the masonry wall between Space 7 and Space 5. The elevated metal storage rack walkways extended through this opening.

The adjacent building construction to the north was noncombustible with masonry walls and a gypsum roof deck on unprotected steel trusses, beams, and columns. The expansion of the fire area caused buckling in the steel trusses. In addition, the masonry separation wall was displaced and cracked in several locations.

Storage Methods

The area of origin was used to store cardboard boxed records in steel racks on solid corrugated metal shelving. Boxes were hand stacked two deep and three high on each shelf. The racks were arranged back-to-back with aisles between rack faces of about four feet. The racks made use of roughly all of the 25 to 28 feet of clear space to the bottom of the floor or roof above. This area did not have intermediate walkway levels. Access to the stored boxes was by means of stacker style fork lifts which the operator rode up to the level of the boxes. Storage boxes in this area were described as being approximately 16 inches wide, 25 inches deep and 11 inches high. Each box and shelf position was identified with bar coding for location and inventory control.

In the section to the east of the fire area, the storage was organized differently. The steel rack structures were about 34 feet tall with two levels of metal grated walkways. It was about 11 feet from the concrete floor to the first walkway level and about the same to the second walkway. Each level provided for four layers of boxes either directly on the floor or on solid corrugated metal shelves. Three of the layers had boxes stacked three high and the top layer was two boxes high. The depth of the shelves varied to provide 3 to 4 boxes between aisles. The typical cardboard boxes used in this area were slightly smaller, 12-1/2 inches wide, 16 inches deep and 10 inches high. Rolling ladders were available on all three levels to access boxes on the higher layers. Aisle widths were typically about 33 inches; there were 48 inch wide main aisles in some areas.

In one small area, boxes were stored one to a shelf with single and double boxes deep between aisles. There were generally the same number of boxes per level and each box rested on a solid wooden shelf. In the east section, access into the storage levels was by means of open metal stairways scattered throughout the rack structure. The location of these stairways were not marked by exit signs; no emergency lighting was observed in this area.

Fire Protection

Ceiling only automatic sprinkler protection was provided throughout all fire areas. The automatic sprinklers were on a 130 square feet per head spacing following the NFPA pipe schedule rules. However, in 1990 some revisions were made to the fire protection systems and water supplies. As a result, the existing sprinkler piping was hydraulically evaluated for an NFPA Standard No. 13 Ordinary Hazard Group 2 design. The system was capable of providing a density of 0.18 gpm per square foot over a 2,000 square feet area of application.

There were no automatic sprinklers located in any of the storage racks in the building nor were there automatic sprinklers under the walkways in the rear storage areas. The sprinklers were supplied from 1000 gpm at 100 psi electric fire pump taking suction from the 12 inch city water main in the alley on the east side of the building. Numerous siamese connections were provided on both the east and west sides of the building to feed into the automatic sprinkler systems. No information was available on the operating temperature of any of the automatic sprinkler heads installed in the building. It is believed that standard, 1/2 inch orifice sprinkler heads were used throughout.

Ceiling mounted smoke detectors were observed in the rear section. Although completely destroyed by the fire, similar ceiling mounted smoke detectors were installed in the fire area. These detectors were connected to a combined fire and security alarm panel that was monitored by a central station service. According to the service’s activity records for the afternoon of the fire, smoke detector activations occurred at 1:43:46 p.m., 1:45:42 p.m., and 1:46:56 p.m. A trouble alarm from the panel was received at 1:47:00 p.m. which most likely indicated that the detector wiring had failed.

While there were sprinkler water flow switches on the risers in the fire pump room, the wiring and conduit between the switches and the junction boxes had been removed. This is typical of what happens when the central station monitoring service is discontinued and the equipment is abandoned in place. As a result, there was no monitoring for the sprinkler waterflow.

Portable fire extinguishers were distributed throughout the Brambles area and employees operated several units prior to fire department arrival. There were no 1-1/2 inch hose stations available inside the building.

Exposure Buildings

The second floor area above the fire and the three-story building to the south was occupied by a rental storage facility. This business rented various sized storage “rooms” or “cubicles” to the public for the storage of items such as household furnishings, books, paper records, carpeting, and other items. Storage of hazardous materials was not permitted by the rental rules.

The storage “cubicles” on the second floor consisted of metal walls about eight feet high that were closed to the roof deck by heavy wire formed into about 3 inch by 3 inch squares. The access door to each unit was secured by a tenant provided lock. This arrangement provided security for each space yet did not necessarily interfere with the automatic sprinkler water distribution. Sprinkler heads were provided at the ceiling only and were spaced using an ordinary hazard schedule. There did not appear to be an attempt to locate an individual sprinkler head within each storage locker.

Double Class A fire doors, one rolling and one sliding metal clad, separated the second floor storage from the building to the south. Fusible links for the doors were located on both sides of the fire wall.

To the north of the fire area was a single story (equal to two stories tall) noncombustible building with masonry and concrete walls and a noncombustible roof on unprotected steel trusses. The roof in this building (Space 6) was a monitor style with a pitched, raised center section having windows on the two sides where the roof continues at a lower level. Space 6 was occupied by a records destruction company. It contained a large shredder and bailer machine along with a similar but smaller unit. Offices, loading and unloading areas, and some paper storage (mostly shredded bales) completed the occupied space.

Brambles also occupied Space 5 which was northeast of the fire area. This segment was a tall single story (equal to 3 stories) noncombustible building with brick and concrete block walls with a noncombustible roof on unprotected steel bar joists. Most of this area contained tall steel storage racks with two levels of steel grated walkways essentially the same arrangement as directly east of the fire area. Records storage was just beginning in this space and the racks were mostly empty at the time of the fire.

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