McDonalds Fire Niles MI 2004

Рет қаралды 34,680

9 ай бұрын

Monday May 3rd 2004
Fire broke out at about 9:51 a.m. as a maintenance employee was using a heating device to thaw the pipes of a freezer unit in the storage room. NFD responded within minutes and attempted to make an interior attack on the building, but they were unable to slow the quickly spreading fire. The roof of the structure was a parallel cord wood truss, which is known for losing its structural integrity quickly in fires, caused the building to burn at a very rapid rate.

Пікірлер: 68

@mariebelladonna437 8 ай бұрын

As a fast food employee myself, I can say, with complete confidence, if the fire department didn't have the parking lot blocked off, there would STLL be customers trying to pull in, even with billowing smoke and flames...

@ramcowboy79 5 ай бұрын

Typical McDonald's, I saw some cars still waiting in line😂

@aday1637 9 ай бұрын

Who knew McDonalds was into flame broiled burgers.

@gregoryclemen1870 7 ай бұрын

its on for a limited time, like the micrib.

@mrfingerlakes8735 7 ай бұрын

Ya they wanted to be like Burger King

@paulfox7899 8 ай бұрын

That's probably 25 to 30 years of grease burning there.

@gregoryclemen1870 7 ай бұрын

that too, plus all the plastics. this fire was started by a maintenance worker using a torch to thaw out a freezer evaporator coil, inside a walk in box.

@erickaegi629 8 ай бұрын

I thought flame broiled was Burger Kings concept!

@ericpl7227 9 ай бұрын

That's probably the first time a McDonalds sandwich has ever seen a real flame!

@johnroggelin7561 8 ай бұрын

They did this exactly correct, no one on a flimsy roof, tried to get it, when they couldn't find it they made it show itself, got everyone out when they should have. Fast food restaurants, dollar stores, etc are usually pretty much a done deal after about 10 minutes. The smoke conditions at the beginning were a pretty good sign they weren't gonna get it, but they gave it a great effort.

@erickaegi629 8 ай бұрын

Yeah they had a snowball chance in hell of stopping this one at the outset.

@gregoryclemen1870 7 ай бұрын

the firemen were waiting for the roof to burn through, so the fire would vent vertically. those guys knew that this building was going to be a total loss. just think, if this place had a sprinkler system, none of this would have happened.

@islandblind 6 ай бұрын

@@erickaegi629 You're probably right. Risk nothing to save nothing.

@afridgetoofar1818 5 ай бұрын

I miss that old school McDonald’s architecture.

@andrewsstation6436 3 ай бұрын

I do as well! I really hate how they have modernized so many of these restaurants so they look so "dull" compared to the red roofs with "French Fry" lights other features of the classic McDonald's style.

@kurtismckemmie4850 9 ай бұрын

I hope everyone got out safely. 19 years later...

@Jhihmoac 8 ай бұрын

Assuming this is the location not far from the I-94 exit, I used to stop at this one for lunch or dinner whenever I was on my way from Chicago to visit some people I knew in Detroit back in the 80s and into the early 90s... It didn't have the big _"Play Place"_ add-on back then, though...

@jed-henrywitkowski6470 8 ай бұрын

The one day, the one friken day when the ice cream machine works!

@crazyoldbat7600 5 ай бұрын

By the looks of the parking lot, the bounce house just turned into a swimming pool.

@Ronald-vk7br 7 ай бұрын

Where is that at

@kitchensva 5 ай бұрын

The guy in the white car is still waiting for his drive through order

@michaelayares3862 9 ай бұрын

We had one burn years ago with the firehouse 3 blocks down the road burned to the ground roof collapsed in dangerous building design these fires will kill your fireman

@tomp8871 9 ай бұрын

It's amazing how much smoke comes out. All plastic I'm guessing, couldn't be the food?

@boataxe4605 8 ай бұрын

The plastic food.

@mariebelladonna437 8 ай бұрын

Fast food worker here. There IS a lot of plastic in restaurants, especially this one, since it had a playplace, and those big plastic tubes for climbing and sliding. But there is a LOT of grease in places like those, too. And not just in the fryers/grills. Even with the filters and ventilation systems, even when the place is clean, it's still there. It aerosolizes, and permeates everything, especially porous surfaces, (That, along with microbe control, which is why you don't usually see much of those kinds of surfaces, in restaurants, as vinyl, plastic, and especially stainless steel-which you'll almost always see in restaurant kitchens-are much easier to clean, and much more resistant to harboring germs and smells.) It's the same reason why, if you've ever been in an old restaurant, you can still smell food, even long after the place was closed, and they stopped cooking. When you cook with that much grease, especially fryers, and meats which create their own grease, for that many people, for that long, it's inevitable. And if the crew/maintenance hasn't been cleaning properly, there could be grease caked on fryer/grill hoods, behind the machines, on the floors. Add to that whatever grease got splashed/dripped around, while the employees were working, plus a stock area full of tons of extra paper wrappers, paper and cardboard boxes, paper wrapped plastic straws, paper napkins, paper and plastic cups, plastic lids, toys (which can be made of paper, plastic, or fabric), plastic bags, and all other manner of flammable items, as well as quick, cheap construction methods for the buildings themselves, and I'm not surprised that restaurants go up in flames as quickly as they do. Yes, there are fire retardation systems, operated both manually, and automatically, over all heat sources (fryers, grills, broilers, etc). But they can only handle so much. If the fire is started somewhere else though, as this one was, your only hope is that someone knows where a fire extinguisher is, and how to use it. And either way, if that fire gets out of control, it has PLENTY of fuel to feed and grow on. Having said that, though, at every place I've ever worked, restaurants take care to keep things as clean as possible, both for fire safety, and the aforementioned microbe control reasons. And filters and vents are cleaned regularly, and fire retardant systems serviced on a schedule. I've been in the business for 25 years, and the only fires I've ever seen were a few small, quickly contained mulch fires, caused by customers carelessly throwing their cigarette butts into the landscaping, and once, during the 2020 race riots, a sister store got hit by a molotov cocktail. Fortunately, that last one happened after close, so no one was in peril (except the firefighters, ofc), and it was extinguished with damage contained to only the drive-through window area, and the side of the building. That store still had to close for a short time. But they were still lucky it wasn't much worse.

@sharongagnist6428 9 ай бұрын

20 years = 14 hours?

@ramcowboy79 5 ай бұрын

..".can i get you to pull around, we'll bring it right out"

@colleb95 6 ай бұрын

Someone forgot to pull up the fries.

@user-ej9jq2zf1y 9 ай бұрын

Well...looks like it finally vented itself!

@hounddog946 9 ай бұрын

Does this mean they’re not open for the lunch rush?

@davebrown7467 8 ай бұрын

Man your burnt my Bigmac,may I have a replacement please..I hope nobody got hurt..❤❤

@apiet56 8 ай бұрын

In 17 minutes is was totally engulfed. How much flammable materials are used to build these fast food restaurants.

@mariebelladonna437 8 ай бұрын

Cheap, flimsy construction, plus years of grease, and a stockroom full of flammables. See my replay above.

@michaelayares3862 9 ай бұрын

They put all the heavy AC units on the roof of these buildings roof collased on our fire in fifteen minutes

@gregoryclemen1870 7 ай бұрын

that is common to put hvac systems on the roof, and they are not light weight either. I have seen in older buildings with steel I beam/ corrugated metal roof construction where the fire was so hot, the I beams sagged down to the ground because of the weight of the hvac equipment.

@The_euc_rider 9 ай бұрын

What not to do

@markverloop8787 9 ай бұрын

10:07. am the long blast on the horn means GET OUT OF THE BUILDING

@mariebelladonna437 8 ай бұрын

Three short blasts followed by one long blast: Evac (evacuation) tone. Though I've seen slightly different variations, from city to city. But you're right, they all mean the same thing-GET THE HELL OUT, NOW, the building is not safe!

@jamessimmonds3773 9 ай бұрын

I bet that maintenance guy had to look for a new job after this.......

@jenniferwhite6089 8 ай бұрын

why would you think that maintenance had something to do with a fire more like could cause from a greace fire may cause it not be clear properly if some manager did not clean up garbage around the electrical source

@michaelbrainard6075 8 ай бұрын

@@jenniferwhite6089 Read the first sentence. it says it was started buy a maintainance guy with a torch thawing frozen pipes

@gregoryclemen1870 7 ай бұрын

I have never been impressed with the "RONNIE BURGER" maintenance guys, most of these "RONNIE BURGER" joints are franchised, and they have their own maintenance people.

@wbuttry1 7 ай бұрын

someone is looking for a new job dam maintence man your fired.

@knowledgeispowermediaprodu7094 6 ай бұрын

I've read the description and most of the comments, but I'm trying to figure out why all the trucks were honking their horns in unison, I have an idea as to why but I'm curious if I'm right, I hope everyone got out safely.

@bradleytaylor4553 6 ай бұрын

You’re 100% correct When they Honk like that that means emergency evacuation and everyone that is inside needs to leave the building immediately it is getting to dangerous for them to be inside

@andyhamilton8940 8 ай бұрын

Was taught early on not to go interior at a Mickey Dees of the older style.

@user-ej9jq2zf1y 9 ай бұрын

Needs verticle ventilation quickly -- sure not PPV ventilation before topside completed! That is scary if they do PPV ventilation without vertical ventilation!!!

@jeremyb4305 9 ай бұрын

LOL

@azul8811 9 ай бұрын

If I’m not mistaken, what looks like a mansard roof on the typical McDonalds are actually truss roofs. While vertical ventilation is an important tactic, it’s not a good idea to put guys on a truss roof.

@dougiefresh195 6 ай бұрын

This was right before George Bush came to talk at Niles High School! I was a Sophomore then.

@danielhull6609 9 ай бұрын

Because someone left something on

@denisesocha6279 6 ай бұрын

Why did it take so damm long for thr to put water on thr roof When the smoke was Coming out b4 the flames showed. That shouldn't have happened. I see a lot of fires on Facebook And the fire isn't that bad but they stand around and do nothing and next the whole Place is in flames.

@denisesocha6279 6 ай бұрын

Now I know the had to wait gir thr roof to ho so thr can fide the seat of the fire.

@Justamedic77 9 ай бұрын

It was the ice cream machine

@markverloop8787 9 ай бұрын

Stupid thing didn’t work anyway

@andyhamilton8940 8 ай бұрын

That’s a good one😮

@jimkeappock7558 9 ай бұрын

Anybody fighting the fire, don’t see any lines, no Tower Ladders or aerial Ladder pipe. SMH

@19irving 8 ай бұрын

The building wasn't tall enough to necessitate a tower ladder.

@gregoryclemen1870 7 ай бұрын

the firemen were waiting for the roof to burn through, so the fire would vent vertically. there was no way to save this building, due to the way it was constructed, it went up like a match stick, and was stubborn to put out.