A good candidate for the start of the fire would be a spark from a round that struck the floor.G.C.Montgomery wrote:As is the case at all ranges, there was unburned powder on the deck. Some how that powder was ignited. Just as shooters tried to put out those flames, burning embers reached additional flammable materials on the walls and things quickly got to a point where it really couldn't be stopped with anything other than a large volume of water or aqueous film forming foam. Only 10-15 seconds passed from the time the powder was ignited to the time it became immediately necessary to evacuate the area. I had just enough time to think "Don't let it get to the wall" but, even that took too long. The last guys to clear the range were running under a burning ceiling on their way out.bpet wrote:Is there any information on how the fire started?
During this time, one shooter made a brave (borderline foolish) attempt to put out the fire with a dry chem extinguisher that was stored on the back wall of the range as we shoved people out the door. I'd tried to go back in with another extinguisher from the showroom when that shooter came through the door with an exhausted extinguisher. I could see behind him that the range was already completely filled with smoke. Had the other shooter not been very familiar with the range, he probably wouldn't have made it out and was seconds from being overcome with smoke.
There was indeed a Metro bus on scene after a while to provide cooling for the fire fighters. The range is housed in a commercial building that used to house Ferrari of Houston. It has a steel/tin roof and concrete exterior. If the air handlers and chillers are off, the interior temp of the ranges will reach 100-degrees by radiant heating alone in the Texas sun. Add a fire, and all the gear firefighters wear and it gets pretty hot in a hurry. The danger posed by the ammunition is minimal and reports indicating firefighters stayed back because of it are patently false.
When I managed the indoor computerized target range for my agency, I witnessed this happen firsthand. A new recruit flinched a shot with a FMJ 9mm round, which then struck the edge of one of two concrete floor slabs that met at one of several expansion joints that ran horizontally across the range from wall to wall. I saw a large spark as it hit. Since this was a relatively common event in training new shooters, this by itself was not a big deal. However, this time the spark ignited unburned powder which had dropped into the approximately 3/4 inch wide space in the expansion joint over a couple of years as the range was swept. Eventually the powder had reached nearly to the top of the joint, which was 6 or more inches deep, bringing it close enough to the surface that a spark from a bullet impact could reach it. We instantly had a ribbon of fire and smoke the entire length of the joint. I wasn't concerned about building damage because the walls and ceilings were concrete with no combustible materials, but when it didn't burn out in a few seconds, I had the range officer deploy a dry chemical extinguisher. This made a mess and slowed down the burn rate, but didn't put the fire completely out because the extinguishing agent simply sat on top of the deep pile of burning powder in the joint. We then filled several water bottles from the rest room and thoroughly soaked the gap to finally put it out.
When I told the chief (who had worked with the architects and construction company to build the HQ building) we had set the range on fire, he said that was impossible because everything was concrete. I then told him that, while he was technically correct, we had in fact had a non damaging fire in the range, and explained how it happened. We quickly made arrangements for a contractor to come in, clean all the powder and debris out of the expansion joints, and fill them with a caulking material to prevent the accumulation of powder in the future.
Since that incident, I've seen reports of several similar events in different parts of the country. Powder accumulation in floor recesses is definitely something that should be inspected for and guarded against in any concrete floored range. Use of flammable materials in walls and ceilings is also clearly not a good idea. The rapid production of smoke during these incidents could easily blind and choke people to the point where they could not find their way out in time. The outcome could easily be much worse than it was at Top Gun.