RV6_flyer

RV6_flyer

Well Known Member
Benefactor
Has anyone had a hangar fire or seen the results of a hangar fire?

On Tuesday 11 January 2011, the hangar across the taxiway from mine had a fire. The Cherokee 6 in the hangar is a complete loss. There was nothing left of it that was more than 18 inches off the ground.

I have seen some photos and plan to take some tomorrow. The images that I am posting here are from my friend Paul that has a Cozy next to the hangar that caught fire.

166354_490262520487_712295487_6154338_474248_n.jpg


166156_490262475487_712295487_6154336_3932392_n.jpg



Inside Paul's hangar.
163190_490260770487_712295487_6154300_1353410_n.jpg


166162_490260430487_712295487_6154284_7658384_n.jpg


165573_490260300487_712295487_6154277_1805382_n.jpg



One of my friends has reported that the investigation into the cause of the fire was sub-standard wiring.

I assume that there will be no damage to my hangar. The fire truck that put the fire out would had to have been between my hangar and the fire. The local Fire Captain has a hangar on the same side as the fire but about 50 yards west of the fire.

Hope these photos makes everyone look over their hangars for fire hazards and is a reminder not to take shortcuts that cause fire hazards on their hangar wiring.
 
there was some serious heat in that hanger, the steel headers have sagged a good foot or so. every piece of metal in that building needs to be sent to the metal recycler. depending on how it is connected to the neighbors, they may have had their frame pulled out of square as the building sagged and then cooled off. The metal could actually pull the other buildings during the process



pictures are fine for me...
 
Gary,

We had a similar T-hangar fire here in Vero Beach a couple of months ago, airplane was a total loss (a retractable TB-21 Trinidad), hangar looked just like your photos. Also an electrical problem, eventually the aircraft fuel ignited, etc. I understand there was damage to the adjacent hangars from the heat. Hangars were relatively new.

I think it's a good idea to make sure all electrical equipment is off prior to leaving the hangar. Not sure leaving a battery minder on all the time is a good idea either. :confused:
 
It's a good thing that there was a fire truck between your hangar and the burning structure Gary, and that your hangar door was closed. I fought fire for 25 years, and it never ceased to amaze me what radiant heat can do. I have seen the interior of a car parked in the street in front of a house fire melt - radiant heat through the windows!

We had a hangar burn at our airpark years ago (it belonged to a partner of mine in a Cub - the cub was elsewhere, but we lost 50 years of logbooks....). The fire was blamed on a bad capacitor on his compressor that he left turned on. I told this story to Louise, and she is really good about riding me to turn the compressor off at night!

Glad you had no damage.

Paul
 
hydroguy2 said:
Anyone ever do the first engine start inside the hangar?

How about refueling ops in the hangar?
Click to expand...

First start or any start? Running an engine in a hangar seems like a good way to do a lot of damage to the hangar and prop.
 
Any start really. The thread prompted my thoughts, just a day ago I saw a video of a first engine start...inside a hangar. It caught me off guard as I had always been taught, No fueling or engine ops inside for fire safety reasons. When I questioned it I was informed 'no problem, the door was open' :rolleyes:
 
I really worry about hanger fires in the winter time as i know many people on our hanger row do not have proppane furnaces but use electric or kerosene heaters. One of those guys forgets to turn it off and the whole row of hangers may go up.
Turn off those heaters when no one is in the hanger, please!
 
Ironflight said:
It's a good thing that there was a fire truck between your hangar and the burning structure Gary, and that your hangar door was closed. I fought fire for 25 years, and it never ceased to amaze me what radiant heat can do. I have seen the interior of a car parked in the street in front of a house fire melt - radiant heat through the windows!

We had a hangar burn at our airpark years ago (it belonged to a partner of mine in a Cub - the cub was elsewhere, but we lost 50 years of logbooks....). The fire was blamed on a bad capacitor on his compressor that he left turned on. I told this story to Louise, and she is really good about riding me to turn the compressor off at night!

Glad you had no damage.

Paul
Click to expand...

We have a shop shutdown checklist, much like in the cockpit. Aircompressor, rotary phase converter and machines, and hvac. One set of shop lights stay on unless someone has completed the checklist. The shop door has a window into the living room, so nobody is going to bed with those shop lights on.
 
Ironflight said:
I fought fire for 25 years, and it never ceased to amaze me what radiant heat can do. I have seen the interior of a car parked in the street in front of a house fire melt - radiant heat through the windows!

Paul
Click to expand...

You got that right. Look at what the sun can do from 8 light minutes away! :eek:
 
Ironflight said:
I The fire was blamed on a bad capacitor on his compressor that he left turned on. I told this story to Louise, and she is really good about riding me to turn the compressor off at night!

Glad you had no damage.

Paul
Click to expand...

I unplug mine after every session. I'm wearing out the socket, but I'll replace that after the project is done.
 
We had a major fire at our Airpark about a year ago -

http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/12/23/news/doc4b315580a7c1e415056780.txt

As you say, the heat is amazing, the central beam in the 5000+ sq ft hangar sagged to about half it's height.

Three planes were lost, a Comp 10, and two 2-place Glasairs, one of them being an Oshkosh champion. Only one plane was insured....:( The article does not mention that the owner was hand-cuffed by the police for his own protection as he was in the smoke with a garden hose.

A year later, and many different investigators, the final cause has not been determined - it appears to have started in the tail area of the Comp 10, but no equipment is there.

None of the hangar was salvageable, even the slab had to be removed due to the complexities of reusing post-tensioned concrete.

We are now in an annexation dispute with a local fire district. No-one was happy with the fire departments response, and this hangar was built under the newer city code after we became part of Oro Valley.
 
Airplane tanks leak, and they spit fuel out of tank vents, and yes, some folks refuel in their hangars. Remember a basic fact about gasoline fumes...they're heavier than air and thus spread along the floor. Fire codes recognize the fact and you should too. Anything incorporating an open flame or spark should be up off the floor.
 
Gil...

No-one was happy with the fire departments response, and this hangar was built under the newer city code after we became part of Oro Valley.
Click to expand...

From Link didn't look like it was all smiles before the fire?

Andy
 
Andy Hill said:
Gil...



From Link didn't look like it was all smiles before the fire?

Andy
Click to expand...

No, that link is dated several months AFTER the fire.

Their response to the hangar fire did not help their later attempts at annexation. We were sort of self-insured (a local money pool) for a fire dept. response, and that paid the approx. $12,000 charge for response. The entire fire district only has about 6 house fires per year. It was the first structure fire on the Airpark in 30+ years.

The fire dept. is also co-mingling fire and ambulance response - ambulance response is covered under an existing state agreement and is not really affected by this annexation. Ambulance service is a money maker...
 
Last edited:
Ahh... see that now Gil... in fact following some links see your name ;)

A new concept to us "choosing" (or not) your fire provider!

Andy
 
Andy Hill said:
Ahh... see that now Gil... in fact following some links see your name ;)

A new concept to us "choosing" (or not) your fire provider!

Andy
Click to expand...

We were initially a rural area when the airpark was started in the 70's and all lots are 7 acres or larger - we have since been surrounded by houses with fire protection and AZ taxes not yet fully sorted out.

Hopefully things will be sorted out one way or other by May this year...:)
 
Here is the view from my hangar.
P1010497.JPG


Not much left of the Cherokee 6.
P1010499.JPG


Wing melted and fell backwards.
P1010502.JPG


Looks like the oil in the sump burned the sump away.
P1010503.JPG


Not much left of the motorcycle that was sitting beside the Cherokee 6.
P1010504.JPG


There were a lot of tires stored to the west (left) side of the aircraft. (left side of the aircraft is the right side of the photo)
P1010505.JPG


Left wing / fuel tank.
P1010506.JPG


What is left of the fuselage and tail cone.
P1010507.JPG


One of my pilot friends that was here when the fire started at 7 PM, told me that they pulled the aircraft out of the hangars that are on the south (back) side of the fire hangar. He said that the hangar inside wall was glowing red. The Upland Fire department has a fire station across the street from the airport was first on scene. Montclair City Fire is next door as well as Ontario. Both of them as well as San Bernardino County had trucks here. It was reported that they did not leave till 10 PM. It was reported that as soon as the fire stopped, it would flair up again.

One aircraft on the south (back) side of the hangar was 10 feet away from the wall and had a landing light lens distorted. The Ercoupe that is in the hangar on the east side has the windshield distorted and the plexi-glass over the baggage area extremely distorted.

Not sure when there is going to be a hangar inspection but you can take it to the bank that a lot of "STUFF" that is in hangars is going to have to be removed.
 
az_gila said:
We had a major fire at our Airpark about a year ago. Three planes were lost, a Comp 10, and two 2-place Glasairs, one of them being an Oshkosh champion. Only one plane was insured...
Click to expand...

Some folks don't carry comprehensive type insurance. They say they will fix any damage if they have a mishap. That won't work when the plane is consumed by fire.
 
Ron Lee said:
Some folks don't carry comprehensive type insurance. They say they will fix any damage if they have a mishap. That won't work when the plane is consumed by fire.
Click to expand...

Yep... on the planes.

But the Homeowners Insurance did pay out for the hangar building itself as an "Accessory Structure" - as a % of the home value - but nowhere near the full hangar value.

The hangar was on the same lot as the owners house. I guess a hangar not on your property would be treated differently.
 
RV6_flyer said:
....
Not sure when there is going to be a hangar inspection but you can take it to the bank that a lot of "STUFF" that is in hangars is going to have to be removed.
Click to expand...

Gary, is there an unenforced "no building rule" at the airport?

If so, that may be the first item to get enforced...:(
 
Ron Lee said:
Some folks don't carry comprehensive type insurance. They say they will fix any damage if they have a mishap. That won't work when the plane is consumed by fire.
Click to expand...

An excellent reason to carry at least a GNIN (ground not in motion) policy. We have full hull coverage while the plane is in the hangar but lower premiums than "full" coverage.

I've had GNIN for many years......we are in tornado country.
 
Hanger Fire

About 4 months back we had a fire in a T-Hanger. Is is believed that a dehumidifier caught on fire and set a plastic book case on fire. The aircraft was not touched by the flames but it was estimated that the temperature reached 800 degrees in the back of the hanger. The owner put the aircraft in the hanger on Monday and stopped by Friday afternoon to check on it and this what he found. This hanger is in a row of t-Hangers on a busy airport. It must have happened at night as no one noticed it. The A/C is a Columbia 400 and it was totaled due to the heat it sustained.

web.jpg


web.jpg


web.jpg


web.jpg
 
Last edited:
scard said:
We have a shop shutdown checklist, much like in the cockpit. Aircompressor, rotary phase converter and machines, and hvac. One set of shop lights stay on unless someone has completed the checklist. The shop door has a window into the living room, so nobody is going to bed with those shop lights on.
Click to expand...



In my shop, I wired the light switch at my door to a large magnetic contactor. When you flip the light switch "on" it triggers the magnetic contactor and that supplies power to everything in the shop. On the way out, just hit the switch and the whole shop goes cold.
 
Brian,

Every situation is differnet. Since we are judging here, when you have the only airplane in a 'hangar', more like a barn with four walls and gravel floor that's not finished yet, and that barn (or hangar) is by itself in the middle of a field on your property, and you have fire-fighting equipment standing by, starting an engine in the barn or hangar isn't as big of a deal as it would be if it was a hangar at an airport connected to other hangars.

So no, at that point it's not a dangerous issue to start up the engine for a few minutes.
 
My apologize, Mark. I shouldn't have assumed you were doing anything unsafe since I wasn't there. I've just never heard of it done on purpose.

again sorry.:eek:
 
s10sakota said:
Brian,

Every situation is differnet. Since we are judging here, when you have the only airplane in a 'hangar', more like a barn with four walls and gravel floor that's not finished yet, and that barn (or hangar) is by itself in the middle of a field on your property, and you have fire-fighting equipment standing by, starting an engine in the barn or hangar isn't as big of a deal as it would be if it was a hangar at an airport connected to other hangars.

So no, at that point it's not a dangerous issue to start up the engine for a few minutes.
Click to expand...

Yep, some of us have airplanes that share hangar space with stuff like tractors and cotton strippers. I always crank and run the 172 for about 30 seconds after an oil change to make sure the filter is full and pressure comes up, while the engine is warm and lubed so it doesn't have to do that on the next cold start. It's an 80x120 barn with a gravel floor, couple tractors, high cycle spray rig, boll buggy, and a few dozen 350-gallon totes of Roundup in there. The worst thing I can do in there is disturb the cat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.