Manassas Journal Messenger 02-16-01

Warehouse

By

Staff

MANASSAS PARK – A fire resulted in $100,00 worth of damage on Thursday

when sparks from a welding tool ignited diesel fuel vapors in a two-story

warehouse on Venture Court.

Manassas Park, Manassas City and County fire departments were called

to the commercial concrete company at 12:03 p.m.

Manassas Park were the first on the scene at 12:09, followed by Manassas

City and Prince William stations, Yorkshire, Buckhall, Stonewall Jackson

and Dale City.

“There was heavy smoke and fire coming from the steel frame construction,”

Manassas Park Fire Chief Rick Grove said.

Firefighters used a power saw to cut a hole in the side of the warehouse,

while workers from nearby buildings stood watching.

“I heard popping noises and then I saw one of the trucks in the

first bay catch on fire,” said Joe DeVito, a worker from a nearby building.

“There was a good flame and it engulfed the whole place,” DeVito

said.

“Firefighters broke out the windows on the second floor to let the

smoke out,” said Art Baker, who had called 911 when he saw smoke coming

from the building from across the street at Chesapeake paving.

Firefighters battled for 20 minutes to bring the fire under control.

“By about 12:30 p.m. the fire was mostly knocked down and then we

began to look for hot spots or hidden fires in the building,” Grove

said.

The concrete company, Modern Concrete Construction, was working on its

own vehicles in a bay on the first floor of the building when the fire broke

out.

“Employees were doing some welding in the garage on the first floor

when it happened,” Grove said.

Manassas Park Fire Marshall Steve King determined that the fire was caused

when sparks from a welding tool ignited insulation in the building and then

spread to an open container of diesel.

“Employees had drained one of their vehicles’ fuel tank and didn’t

properly store the diesel. The vapors from the diesel had been building

up for quite some time, ” Grove said.

The building suffered from heavy smoke damage but there were no injuries

to employees or firefighters.

-Contact Nancy Carroll at [email protected]