You are assigned to a single resource Engine company responding to a report of smoke in a large grocery store. You arrive to nothing showing and what appears to be business as usual at the bustling market.
Inside you are led to the produce section where one of the open fresh vegetable cases is sparking and smoking. Then the water jets turn on causing an impressive sparking display. The produce manager, standing next to you, says they have no way to turn the jets off.
You know better. Your officer sends you and a member of the truck company now at the scene to find the panel for that display and disconnect the power.
Recalling your days as a stock boy in a similar market you were expecting clutter, but what you find amazes you.
The panels are behind a locked gate which is blocked by pallets of cola cans in multiple packages. Each pallet stacks at least 4 feet high, one on another, and they're completely blocking access to the individual panels, which you can see through small gaps. Also through those gaps you see piles and piles of discarded boxes and plastic pallets directly blocking the panels, clearly in violation of the word and the spirit of the fire code.
As you are assessing how to get in there and what to do when you do get there you see on a different wall the main breaker for the store. Often together, the store was recently remodeled and the main shutoff is accessible and requires only a cut of a lock and the throw of a switch.
You estimate it would take at least 20 minutes to ladder the pallets or find a hand truck that can move them ("Only the drivers have those" you were told) or you can shut down the entire market, including registers, freezers, lighting. Everything.
You radio the officer of the situation and she fires back, "You make the call."
Comments
Another option might be to get a tarp and divert the water while discharging the CO2 extinguisher from the apparatus(Or better yet, one from the store!)on the fire.
Meanwhile, throw their crap out of the way to get to the disconnect.
They would also be candidates for a prompt visit from the Fire Marshall/ Inspector. Maybe even while units are still on scene. A nice hefty fine should get their attention.
As a side note, if wired correctly it should only behave this way a short time before tripping the breakers on the motor starter, or blowing the fuses........
As long as it isn't going anywhere you could wait for it to drop out the power and then hit it with an ABC or BC PFE.
Have the appropriate agency or division do a thorough inspection and fine the pants off the store.
When nobody is looking grab an apple. (No, forget that part)
If I am in a good mood they have 5 mins to get THEIR employees to move the stuff out of the way so I can cut power to that display. Otherwise the the customers will get a 1 min warning to leave, and the main gets shut off.
If I am in a cranky moody, obviously, the main gets cut.
In either case the fire marshall/inspector will be making a visit prior to our departure...
basically what everyone else said...
Is there a way to cut the water supply as well? so no sparks etc??
Not to mention the Health Department (you DID call them along with the rest of the inspectors, right?) will probably require all the affected produce be destroyed, effectively adding to the amount of the fine(s).
Besides, unless the store is located in some rural backwater, at least one inspector of some sort -- building, health, fire, insurance -- had probably been through the building in the past. Most inspectors, regardless of affiliation, would remind store management not to block critical systems. Assuming (with the usual caveat) that that had happened, one could argue that management was being lackadaisical about the safety of the store, its employees and customers, and responders.