Keith Browning Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 Over the weekend a truck up on one of our lifts caught fire and likely burned for a couple of hours according to the fire Marshall. I dispatched the vehicle Friday afternoon and it was on the lift when the tech went home Friday night. Service was closed Saturday. The fire department got the alarm at 11:00 PM Saturday. The customer had run a 2 gage battery cable from the left battery to the pick up bed and ran it loosely along the left hand frame rail. Apparently the technician set the lift and raised the truck without noticing the cable had been caught between the lift cleat and the frame rail. Fire damage was limited to the truck but the sheer amount of soot affected the entire shop and the parts department. Water damage was heavy, our basement with our lockers, special service tools and older print manuals and the air compressors had several feet of soot and oil laden water before the HAZMAT team pumped it all out. The roof was damaged as was the lift. Three toolboxes had heavy water damage that destroyed three techs computers. One tool box was sitting exactly where mine used to be up until three weeks ago. The place stinks! What a mess. My shop off to the side was right next to the lift where the fire was but the concrete wall kept smoke from entering for the most part. I only had to scrub my floor... others were not so lucky as I mentioned. There is a clean up company there as I write this. Some of the guys had their toolboxes completely emptied and disassembled to be cleaned. Now everything has to be cleaned and inspected, the ceiling has to be pressure washed. The scary thing about this is the oxy-acetylene torch was 10 feet from the truck! This is going to affect us for some time to come. I heard that if this truck was gasoline powered instead of diesel the fire would have been much, much worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwayneGorniak Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 You know Keith, this conversation comes up quite regularly here at shop meetings. I hope your shop or your techs had insurance for the techs tools. Up here in Canada most techs cannot afford insurance for their tools and most shops are too cheap to help them out. I would be devastated if something like that happened to my tools. I would never be able to replace them. Good luck to all you guys and I hope you are looked after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 Fortunately the company insurance covers us if accidents occur. When we all first arrived for work we were told to not open our toolboxes until we checked in with our human resources manager. I opened up with her standing beside me and we inspected everything including turning on my computer. It was quick to determine that I suffered no damage at all but if anything was lost it would be put on the claim. My brother was one of the unfortunate ones because his less than 1-year old toolbox was in the line of fire from the water hoses. He got his box taken apart and cleaned. His losses were just his computer, monitor and all of the training books he has collected... with class notes in them of course. Could have been much worse I suppose. We shall see if he gets a new computer out of the deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 My condolences. I was very lucky to be in business for 25+ years without a claimable fire or crash. If you need anything, let us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 At the very least, nobody was physically hurt.... Just don't try and turn it into a yearly event.... Two of our techs that used to be in the "front shop" insisted on getting bays ion the addition out back - and we are approaching a year from...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 Oooh, that's right, you guys had that car come crashing into the shop. That was a mess too and that was during business hours. Incidentally, did your company's insurance pick up any damage to tech's damaged tools or tool boxes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 In the first one, no tool boxes were hit.... The one the next year, one apprentices tool boxes were destroyed. The insurance company replaced all lost or damaged tools. Sadly, the apprentice tried to turn the incident into a "for profit" scheme and left our employ a few months after the incident. Some of our guys still jump at every loud noise.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 Some of our guys still jump at every loud noise.... So I guess dropping a transmission skid plate on the floor would be a no-no in your shop? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cover.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 That would be one thing among many.... not that I've ever accidentally done it in a mean moment.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselD Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 wow that sucks. what was the customers reaction? fire is a nasty thing and even it it isnt burned the water or smoke damage causes just as much damage. I havent seen too many shop fires expect for a guy that decide to do a wiring repair with a mini torch next to an open fuel tank. of course it ignited and burned the tank, lines, etc. he got it put out quick. I have seen several vehicles dropped from the hoists. that makes one hell of a noise when standing in the room next to where its dropped. glad to hear no one was hurt and you still have most of your shop there. how is business flowing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 31, 2007 Author Share Posted May 31, 2007 I had the opportunity to ask my manager about the customer after reading your post and he said that the guy was very upset but not angry. He understood that it was an accident, one of those things, but he was upset because he really loved the truck. I mean he needed to regain his composure upset! I guess some people really love their trucks. Great customer, bought it from us, does all work at our shop and to correct myself, this truck was in the shop for a 90K service and the QCRC /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif yielded a 4-wheel brake job and ball joints. The tech was done with the job and only needed to road test it which never happened because the truck was not needed for the week end. Since the floor was to be cleaned Friday night, the truck was just put back up in the air and out of the way and you know the rest of the story. One half of the shop is closed off with plastic and is being completely washed by hand. To do this our Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep service department was shut down. A few of us were jawing about this and realized just how many people were affected by this and how many more are involved in cleaning and restoration of the building. The Ford shop slowly got re-grouped to one side of the shop that was already cleaned and had less smoke and water damage but some of us were not very motivated at all, myself included. I know the lift the truck was on is condemned but I thought I overheard someone say the lifts on either side were as well. The roof decking above is buckled and a section of it is going to be replaced. Back to the customer, we swapped in a similarly equipped truck (loaded red 2008 crew cab, 4X4, 6.4L diesel) which he will be picking up tomorrow. I am sure he will fall in love with this one as well. Funny thing is, he uses this truck for work which is waste removal. Kinda too nice of a truck for a work truck but who am I to judge? I am sure the insurance is covering most of this but we are giving him the truck which is really cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 Not to hijack the thread, but a couple of points that struck close to home with recent events in our shop.... Composure..... a seemingly well educated "recent Canadian" lady with an 05 Freestar.... managed to hit (off all things) an office chair.... on the highway.... on a straight stretch in the middle of nowhere. Tore a hole in the oil pan big enough to stick a large mans fist through, damaged transmission and bent the cradle.... When told of the damage, she broke down in tears... even after we reminded her that this is what insurance is for. I see the roof in your shop is steel truss.... as an ex-firefighter I can say that this construction method can be insidious. All it takes is for one small member to be affected by heat and the entire beam weakens. As for the hoists.... better safe than sorry. As for the trucks.... you wouldn't belive the number of King Ranches and Harley Davidsons that are cruising the oilpatch... It can be strange to see these trucks without a liberal coating of mud.... both above and below.... My next door neighbour (electrician by trade) regularly shovels his driveway - when there is no snow.... 07 Harley Davidson CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 31, 2007 Author Share Posted May 31, 2007 Not sure who dropped what agency's name but they closed our Parts and Service departments this morning abruptly. We were given time to remove any vehicles in the shop and gather keys and paperwork. Air quality tests are to be done later which take 24hrs and then up to another 24-48 for the results. So, it looks like a 4-day weekend for me. As I sit here looking out the window I see a lot of landscaping chores I can get done now! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif A little fresh air and sunshine, the weather here in Jersey is perfect so I really don't mind. The only thing that does concern me is that they let us walk around in this crap for two days and some employees have been in the building since Sunday... If the air tests come back with anything negative this could get ugly. Perhaps they should have handled this differently. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselD Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 well the bright side you get a long weekend, hope its paid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendpowerstroke Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 I have personally had my house burn down about 4 years ago, I'd take a shop fire with a few days off over that any day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 That must have sucked big time. That is one thing I fear and this is my first experience with fire and I can guess that ANY experience with fire is not pleasant. By the way we are back up and running in a fairly clean shop that stinks like, well, shit to be frank! I guess we really are lucky we have a place to go back to work to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 I can appreciate the way you feel.... when I was more involved with our local fire service, I spent too much time involved in peoples personal tragedies.... I can recall one fire where we found the families leather bound bible unscathed... the home-owner was moved to tears.... leaving an indelible mark on those of us present... All the same, even the safest places can be taken in the wink of an eye... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwayneGorniak Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 We just had our shop meeting tonight and I made some headway today. While the dealer principal was in the shop looking at my new hoist being installed, I struck up the conversation of insurance with him. He informed me that our shop does have insurance on technicians tools and it is for one hundred thousand dollars. Quite seriously, he looked at me and said he knew that some of us techs had as much as twenty thousand tied up in tools. I laughed and and proceeded to tell him that I alone had eighty thousand in tools and the other diesel tech had the same amount. He almost hit the floor in shock. He had absolutely no idea that we invested that much into our career. I told him I spent six grand last year alone. So anyway, He got the point and decided he was going to look into insurance companies and see what kind of plan we could get into. I may be a persistant bugger but it allways seems to pay off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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