Big Fire Tonight at GKY (Arlington Municipal)

Just saw the unfortunate news that there was a major fire in some of the city of Arlington's rentable hangars tonight. These are enclosed and locked T-hangars which presented a problem for firefighters. Although smoke and flames were pouring out of the hangars, the fire department was having to saw through the sheet metal doors to gain entry.

I saw conflicting reports, but one news station said 14-individual hangars were engulfed, and another said only 11. In any respect, I really feel badly for the owners of those planes. While I have no way of knowing if there were planes in all of the hangars, I do know that they are all rented (there is a 5-year waiting list, minimum, for a hangar).

While ALL planes are valuable, I also know of two RV's which reside at Arlington. So far there have been no clues given as to what caused the fire.

Know thy neighbour

I was based at another Arlington airport in WA state, and a similar fire occurred. A guy working on a big fiberglass boat in the hanger left some epoxy or something that caught fire. Due to the fact the walls did not extend to the roof the fire could spread and worse. The roof had a insulation with a vinyl cover that melted far away from the hanger where the fire started. Also all the soot and ashes traveled all over the group of "T" hanger. A friends brand new RV was lost. Another friend just bought a war bird, a piper cub type observation plane just restored. It survived with some damage requiring the wing to be recovered.

Bottom line if you know some one is working with flammable stuff like fiberglass or doing some weird stupid stuff have a "talk", the plane you save may be your own. Also "T" hangers with walls that doesnt seal to the ceiling are bad news. If the landlord wold allow maybe blocking those openings with some kind of drywall or fire block would help save your plane some day. I also unplug all extension cords before I leave my hanger and no longer leave battery chargers unattended. G

I just paid a visit to the county planning office in a Georgia county today to research setbacks etc. for a hanger lot. They require a 30 foot separation or a firewall between hangers.

Derrell
RV7A
Finish