At 11:27 a.m. on March 11, crews responded to a semi fire at Meijer Distribution. The fire was located at the rear of Building 801, on the west side of the campus. E32 arrived on scene to find heavy fire conditions involving a tractor and trailer that was docked against the building. The building and adjacent trailers were immediate exposures. E32 initiated a quick direct fire attack on the tractor and trailer. E32, with assistance from L31 and M31, deployed a Blitz Fire master stream to control the building exposure.
The response included: Tipp City E32, L31, M31, C31, & C32; Elizabeth Township M45; Vandalia E2 & Battalion-3; Huber Heights L23 & Battalion-22; Bethel Township E-40 & C40; Miami County Emergency Management Agency EMA-2, & Miami County Hazmat Chief-5. C31 held Incident Command. Tipp City is thankful for all the mutual aid support.
There were no injuries to any onsite staff or first responders.
Incident Command worked collaboratively with a team of staff members at Meijer Distribution. Smoke entered building 801 and required extensive ventilation efforts. This section of 801 is cold storage of food products. The Ohio Department of Agriculture was notified and will be working with Meijer’s food safety team to evaluate the integrity of the building’s inventory.
The truck and trailer is owned and operated by Sandhu Trucking Inc., based in Round Lake, IL. The initial fire investigation revealed that the area of origin may have been the reefer unit mounted at the front of the refrigerated trailer. However, the investigation efforts are still ongoing. The current estimated loss is $250,000, with potential building inventory losses not yet included.
Miami County Emergency Management Agency and Hazmat determined that no significant release of hazardous materials occurred that required cleanup beyond locally placed absorbent booms. The bulk of the diesel fuel appeared to have been consumed by the fire or to have remained in the tanks. Sandy’s Towing & Recovery recovered the remaining diesel fuel from the tanks prior to removing the vehicle from the site.