Agri Star Fire Burned For Hours Before Fire Department Called, Could Have Been Much Worse, First Responders Say

Friday night’s fire at Agri Star kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa burned for almost five hours before the Postville Fire Department was notified.

Agri Star Fire Could Have Been Much Worse, First Responders Say
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Friday night’s fire at Agri Star kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa burned for almost five hours before the Postville Fire Department was notified, the Midwest News reported.

The Postville Fire Department was called Saturday morning at 2:41 a.m. but security camera footage reportedly shows the fire was already burning by 10:00 p.m. Friday night. The fire’s progress was reportedly retarded by overhead PVC water pipes that melted or broke.

If those water pipes had remained intact or been empty, it is likely the entire 350,000 square foot three floor building would have been gutted.

The Postville Fire Department was reportedly joined in fighting the fire by the Castalia, Luana, Frankville and Monona fire departments along with Decorah’s aerial firefighting unit.

The fire was reportedly under control by approximately 4:30 am CST Saturday.

Agri Star’s security staff reportedly notified the plant’s maintenance supervisor at 2:25 am that there was a problem on the lower level.

He arrived and called 911 at 2:41 am.

When the Postville Fire Department arrived, thick black smoke was already billowing out of the building’s lower level.

The fire – which is reportedly thought to be accidental – apparently started in a dryer which was left running unattended in the reportedly unoccupied building.

There is no word so far on why the plant's fire alarms and smoke detectors did not go off – or if the plant has any fire alarms and smoke detectors at all.

There is also reportedly no publicly available damage assessment at this time.

Related Post:

Agri Star Burns In Shabbat Fire.

Comments

[put a square into a hole]

Here we go again. Scotty boy is implying "arson"...............

[WoolSilkCotton; I must be seen to be believed]

Water piping for the sprinkler system is PVC??? How did that ever pass inspection?

[state of disgust]

Water pipes were not likely for sprinklers. Slaughter houses use an enormous amount of water in the rendering process. Wet floors and floors slippery from fat droppings are a major causes of plant injuries.

[Isa]

arson is not implied...
If it was arson don't you think they would burn the thing down 100%

OTOH smoke damage can be a real killer on a business

[put a square into a hole]

ISA

Mabey that's what the wanted. Mabey they were sold a bag of hot air, and this was the only way to recoup some of their investments.

[C'mon!]

....and maybe it was an accident.

Nah, it's the freemasons, the hook-nosed Frummies!

[rebitzman - $101 to read my posts]

I've read and re-read the post - I see exactly nothing "implied" here, just the facts.

Guilty conscious, "put a square into a hole"?

[David]

It was Shabbos. If no frumma lives are at stake it is prohibited to call the fire department unless a goy decides to do it themself.

[Susan]

It was about this time of the year several years ago that Iowa Turkey Products which was next to Agriprocessors burned down in an accidental fire. The new owners relocated to Marshall, Minnesota. Sad that there was not a system at either place that automatically called the fire department if a smoke detector went off.

[state of disgust]

It will be interesting to see what the insurance company says about leaving a dryer running unattended on a Friday night and no smoke detectors.
Were they in violation of local fire codes? I seem to remember insurance companies doing inspections and determining policy costs based on potential risk.
Also wonder if they business interruption insurance.