3 Alarm Fire in Richmond's East End

On February 25th at 0323 hours; E-8, Q-11, Q-6, Q-13, Rescue 1, Safety 2, and BC 1 were dispatched to the 5200 block of Hatcher Road for the reported building fire with several explosions heard. E-8 arrived on scene to find a large industrial complex with heavy fire showing and explosions still being heard. BC-1 struck the second alarm and immediately requested the Hazardous Materials team to respond. As additional units arrived, they identified several compressed gas tanks near the fire and removed them to a safe area. Quints 11, 6, and 13 used elevated master stream devices to combat the fire. Once a working fire was declared, Q-5, Q-17, Air Light 11 and BC-2 were added to the assignment.


The second alarm brought in, E-12, Q-15, Rescue 3, Haz Mat 3, and BC-3 those units were utilized for a variety of operations, some of them being relay pumping. Two engines and a BC were requested from Henrico Fire to assist with relay pumping and fire ground operations. Resources quickly begin to be used and a third alarm was eventually struck bringing in Q-18, Q-23, Rescue 2, and a special request for E-24 and Tanker 24 to respond for water supply.



Units were able to remove several items before they sustained damage. Those items ranged from compressed gas cylinders to Port-A-Johns. CSX did have several cars located on nearby railroad tracks that contained several kinds of hazardous materials and they were about 50 to 60 yards away. The fire did extend to a pile of nearby tires, about 100 caught fire. Foam was used to suppress the tires that were on fire as the run off  was contained to a retention pond nearby. The Henrico Fire Hazardous Materials Team was added to the call and the EPA was notified as environmental concerns of the run off increased.

The fire was brought under control at 0613 hour. The investigation team and other units remained on scene well into the night. The fire is still under investigation.