TTA
Club Member
I guess they are just letting it burn.
http://www.freep.com/article/200906...3/NEWS/At+night++crews+let+Packard+Plant+burn
June 9, 2009
At night, crews let Packard Plant burn
BY BILL MCGRAW
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
That big plume of black smoke that filled the sky Monday night and was visible from downtown to the eastern suburbs?
It was just the Packard Plant burning.
Again.
And that fire is likely to be burning this morning, because the Packard Plant is too dangerous for Detroit firefighters to enter after dark, so they had to let it burn Monday night.
Fire crews are called to the massive and mostly abandoned complex about once a week, said Lt. Steve Kirschner of Engine Co. 23, which is stationed a few blocks west of the plant.
The fires stem from scrappers and their acetylene torches and people, many of them young, who like to explore the Packard Plant and think it’s cool to set fires to the huge mounds of trash and other dumped debris in the complex’s large rooms.
On Monday night, the black smoke came from thousands of wooden pallets, garbage and plastic tubing on the fourth floor of a six-story building a few hundred yards north of E. Grand Boulevard.
“We’re going to let it burn itself out,” Kirschner said. “We never go in at night. It’s just not safe.”
The Packard complex, designed by Albert Kahn starting in 1903, is located near Mt. Elliott and I-94. It consists of 3.5 million square feet of space in 43 interconnected buildings. Many of the buildings are filled with trash and dumped articles, including old pleasure boats and shoes. There is one small business that remains in the complex, a chemical-processing concern.
Kirschner said Engine 23 and other fire companies responded to a fire recently during the day and discovered about 25,000 square feet of shoes burning. The smoke, partially from the shoes’ rubber and glue, was dangerous for the firefighters and anyone in the neighborhood who might have breathed it.
Hazardous-materials crews monitored the air Monday night and found no need for evacuations. The cause of the fire was not known, but firefighters were certain it was set. They called for an arson car, but none was available.
The Packard site is filled with tunnels, open sewers and collapsing walls and ceilings, often the result of scrappers cutting out I-beams. Last fall, two scrappers fell one story in a cloud of dust, cement slabs and bricks when they cut out a beam and the lower part of a covered bridge collapsed into an alley-like street, Bellevue Avenue. The scrappers limped away. The debris remains where it fell.
In 2007, the fire department warned its personnel about the Packard’s dangers and had fire crews from across central Detroit tour the site to try to understand it, in case they were ever called to fight a blaze there.
A memo from the chief of department said the complex’s roadways could collapse due to the weight of the rigs. It advised that fires should be fought from the outside of the building, shooting water inside.
While it is technically not abandoned, the Packard Plant is mind-numbing in its vastness, decay and the large trees growing from its roofs. It is totally open to trespass.
The complex is owned by a company called Bioresource Inc., which emerged with the title after a lengthy court battle with the City of Detroit. City officials say the firm has failed to pay Detroit taxes since it bought the plant in 1987. State records show Bioresource has not filed an annual report since 2000 and was declared dissolved by the state in 2003.
Contact BILL McGRAW at [email protected].
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http://www.freep.com/article/200906...3/NEWS/At+night++crews+let+Packard+Plant+burn
June 9, 2009
At night, crews let Packard Plant burn
BY BILL MCGRAW
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
That big plume of black smoke that filled the sky Monday night and was visible from downtown to the eastern suburbs?
It was just the Packard Plant burning.
Again.
And that fire is likely to be burning this morning, because the Packard Plant is too dangerous for Detroit firefighters to enter after dark, so they had to let it burn Monday night.
Fire crews are called to the massive and mostly abandoned complex about once a week, said Lt. Steve Kirschner of Engine Co. 23, which is stationed a few blocks west of the plant.
The fires stem from scrappers and their acetylene torches and people, many of them young, who like to explore the Packard Plant and think it’s cool to set fires to the huge mounds of trash and other dumped debris in the complex’s large rooms.
On Monday night, the black smoke came from thousands of wooden pallets, garbage and plastic tubing on the fourth floor of a six-story building a few hundred yards north of E. Grand Boulevard.
“We’re going to let it burn itself out,” Kirschner said. “We never go in at night. It’s just not safe.”
The Packard complex, designed by Albert Kahn starting in 1903, is located near Mt. Elliott and I-94. It consists of 3.5 million square feet of space in 43 interconnected buildings. Many of the buildings are filled with trash and dumped articles, including old pleasure boats and shoes. There is one small business that remains in the complex, a chemical-processing concern.
Kirschner said Engine 23 and other fire companies responded to a fire recently during the day and discovered about 25,000 square feet of shoes burning. The smoke, partially from the shoes’ rubber and glue, was dangerous for the firefighters and anyone in the neighborhood who might have breathed it.
Hazardous-materials crews monitored the air Monday night and found no need for evacuations. The cause of the fire was not known, but firefighters were certain it was set. They called for an arson car, but none was available.
The Packard site is filled with tunnels, open sewers and collapsing walls and ceilings, often the result of scrappers cutting out I-beams. Last fall, two scrappers fell one story in a cloud of dust, cement slabs and bricks when they cut out a beam and the lower part of a covered bridge collapsed into an alley-like street, Bellevue Avenue. The scrappers limped away. The debris remains where it fell.
In 2007, the fire department warned its personnel about the Packard’s dangers and had fire crews from across central Detroit tour the site to try to understand it, in case they were ever called to fight a blaze there.
A memo from the chief of department said the complex’s roadways could collapse due to the weight of the rigs. It advised that fires should be fought from the outside of the building, shooting water inside.
While it is technically not abandoned, the Packard Plant is mind-numbing in its vastness, decay and the large trees growing from its roofs. It is totally open to trespass.
The complex is owned by a company called Bioresource Inc., which emerged with the title after a lengthy court battle with the City of Detroit. City officials say the firm has failed to pay Detroit taxes since it bought the plant in 1987. State records show Bioresource has not filed an annual report since 2000 and was declared dissolved by the state in 2003.
Contact BILL McGRAW at [email protected].
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