Raleigh fire chief: Convention center fire could have been catastrophic, praises response
9:29 a.m. uh there were several calls until our 911
dispatch center uh notifying us that the convention center had
a fire on top of the roof
Uh units quickly arrived within 2 minutes
The first unit arrived on scene within 2 minutes
Second unit arrived 3 minutes
So that part uh that part of the incident quickly
got under way with a rooftop
Extinguishing operations
What goes into rooftop extinguisher operations
It's very it's challenging because units don't have fire
The water sources on the ground
So therefore they had to connect to the actual fire
department connection at the Raleigh Convention Center and take all
the holes and equipment upstairs to the rooftop connect to
the stairwell and go up to the top and fight
the fire from an operational standpoint from the top of
the roof
Also we had aerial trucks on each side of the
actual Raleigh convention center
With uh area operations going at the same time to
try to quickly contain the fire and extinguish the fire
the fire was on the platform mechanical uh HVAC system
They had a gas line feed to it
So therefore they had to contain the gas line to
get the gas cut off we had to contain the
flames so it wouldn't spread
You were talking about the difficulty of a rooftop and
also the size of the convention center
The challenges were they quickly got there to help mitigate
this fire but there are a lot of challenges
Number one the water the amount of personnel and the
amount of equipment
So we were looking at the first station closest to
the Raleigh Convention Center was in quarters and house so
that made a big difference of getting an adequate amount
of personnel and equipment to the location to quickly mitigate
That incident
How long did it take for the fire From the
time of dispatch you're looking at roughly 25 minutes the
fire was contained and extinguished
How many firefighters
Absolutely this fire went to a 3rd alarm
Um we had roughly 61 personnel on scene actually working
that particular fire
Uh I can't think the Raleigh Fire Department enough for
the work that they did uh being that's a city
asset was able to quickly contain that fire and extinguish
it
Also I have to say a special thank you to
the Raleigh Police Department Wake County EMS and the FBI
who responded to the incident as well
So the flames are very visible on the roof
How are you able to identify that it was just
up there as opposed to other parts of the building
With units that were upstairs doing rooftop operations we also
had units interior also doing primary search to make sure
the fire didn't get any void spaces and damaged the
interior
So there were no interior damages from assessment we saw
only rooftop operations that conducted the show we had uh
mainly roof damage
Hold on I can't
OK go ahead
Good
All right
Um I actually lived downtown heard all the fire came
outside started to smell some of that smoke
I smell like a regular bonfire like a scent to
it
And when the crews were on scene did they smell
any natural gas Did they smell anything weird on the
rooftop at all No only when the uh the incident
commander and the units got out on top of the
roof is when they realized that there was a natural
gas feed
Because when the first time uh hand lines were open
they realized the fire wasn't going out so it's a
natural gas feed so they actually went to operations to
contain the natural gas and request the natural grass be
cut
So any initial signs like immediate signs of what could
have caused the fire when they got on the scene
Not that moment no
And you have any sense of the extensive damage to
the convention roughly what I know of as of today
the rooftop roughly $2 million in damage just on the
rooftop alone
Yeah I mean this is this is a huge center
that hosts a lot of events
Where does the investigation stand right now What are you
doing today to ensure that it's safe for future Well
let's turn to the city building engineers
The Raleigh Fire Department's main concern was containing and extinguishing
the fire and that's turn over the building
We hear a lot about with insti curls and high
rises how does the fire department train for these rooftop
events Can you talk a little bit more about the
drain That's a great question
We train on high rise scenarios throughout our our year
We know that this city is changing developing quickly and
we're not growing out we're growing up
So therefore we have the necessary equipment and personnel to
train
The truck that you just saw leave the aerial truck
is designed for high rise rescue
So we train roughly monthly on high rise scenarios just
like what you saw
So you said city engineers are gonna be the ones
who are determining whether it's safe but what are your
what are your crews doing here today
That's correct
My crews are not out there
That's building the city building engineers
They'll do a structural assessment and get that report to
the city as well
And then uh how do you make sure your fruits
are safe when they're when they're on a rooftop Sorry
I know that that it's going down right now
you know fighting a fire like this you're on a
roof
I'm sure there are concerns of structural collapse
How do you make sure that you're safe
Well we have safety also on location doingsessment 360 assessment
around the building while they're doing fire operations
There's a lot that goes into tactics and strategies but
at the same time we do a structural assessment
We know that we have to be on top of
a roof for a certain amount of time before the
roof could potentially compromise
So therefore we did cut membrane on the top of
the actual
Actual convention center and quickly realized there was a stable
platform so units were able to do 5 operations continuously
without the fear of collapse
That's correct
It was strictly rooftop
damage no interior damage whatsoever
Um like I said this could have easily been a
catastrophic event with a building of 500,000 square feet
So the men and women of the Raleigh Fire Department
Raleigh Police Department Wake County EMS did an excellent job
of getting that fire contained
And extinguished without minimal damage to the interior of the
building
How long did it take for the fire to get
under control 25 minutes from the time of dispatch yes
sir
It was raining last night
Did that impact your operations at all Not at all
Not at all
It was a cold night but so there was no
water issues like I said before we were speaking earlier
The fire department quickly got there and recognized this as
a high rise building and they connected to the fire
department connections went up to the floor below the fire
connected to the standpipes and went to the operational floor
of the roof
And had firefighter operations going on
61 personnel from how many different stations Roughly 3 alarms
uh you're looking at probably about 20+ stations
And the fire was started during construction is that That
that's still an investigation we don't know yeah
And it was was it primarily just the gas leak
that that we were when we saw those flames is
that all The flames you saw were fed by natural
gas feed yes yes
Yeah
Anything you think we're missing here that was really important
when we're talking about fighting this fire extinguishing it
From an operational standpoint like I said I think we
got a chance to see the whole gamut of what
it looks like on public safety from the 911 calls
to processing the call
Stations being dispatched response times and fire under control
That is a four wheel circle of what you see
when you say public safety from 911
It's not just fire
It takes a joint effort collaborative for many different departments
to make sure this is under control and we save
the city building
And state fire marshals were handling it or city fire
marshals City fire marshals and SBI both won CNS
It's crazy when you have a fire at a place
so public like the convention center that a lot of
people use and you all see fires every single day
Was this one a little different for you all Well
actually when I saw the actual page I was like
this can't be right but I quickly got on a
phone call and realized that it was a convention center
it was it was an actual working structure fire
I guess this just as serious as there was an
event there earlier that evening right I mean when you
You know a building that has so many people in
there
I mean what's the seriousness of something like this That's
a great question because if that building would have been
occupied we'd have 5 operations going with evacuations
So therefore we got on locations units did uh identify
that there were no occupants inside the building
Security uh confirmed that so we didn't have to do
any evacuations prior to fire operations being conducted
What do you anticipate to take place in the meeting
Check that
Well hopefully it's uh accolades of uh what our public
safety did uh each and every day we go out
and serve the community and I just want them to
know that the fire department did an excellent job which
they do that every day of performing to the highest
level
We provide the city of Raleigh with a professional level
of public safety
Y'all really responded quickly
I mean talking about a fire like that on the
top of the roof at night in the cold 25
minutes to get under control
That's that's
Response times are very efficient
The response times reduce risk and to be on a
location within 2 minutes the actual standard is 4 minutes
and 50+ seconds
They got there within 2 minutes so that's exceptional