TRACY, Calif. (KGO) — A massive fire at a Tracy warehouse complex was burning out of control Thursday afternoon and sending a huge plume of black smoke into the air.
The fire broke out at a little before 1 p.m. at the Medline Distribution Center, a medical supply warehouse in the 5700 block of Promontory Parkway just south of Interstate Highway 205 and west of the downtown area, according to Tracy Police Department spokesperson Kaylin Heefner.
So far, no injuries have been reported, but the roughly 1 million square foot warehouse was fully engulfed in flames and continues to burn, according to the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority.
Firefighters described the Medline distribution warehouse fire as one of the worst fires of its kind as smoke continued to billow Friday morning.
It's one of the largest warehouse fires in the U.S. with 900 people who are employed there but only 120 workers there.
"There's been distribution centers that have burned throughout our nation, but to have one, you know, over a million square feet, there's only been two or three that we are aware of, and so it's very, very challenging, you know, you can imagine it's a skyscraper laying on its side," said Brian Bagley, deputy chief with the South County Fire Authority.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Officials said it started inside the facility, near the top of the roof. When crews arrived, they reported that fire sprinklers had not activated and that yard hydrants on site were not working. Firefighters instead connected to a municipal hydrant located off-site.
"It took two fire engines just to connect from the fire hydrant to get it close enough to apply water to the actual fire," Bagley said.
The adjacent FedEx facility almost caught fire, as officials say they quickly went into containment mode. There were several grass fires and 200 pallets against the FedEx facility caught fire, that were mitigated with the help of mutual aid.
The trailers mostly full of medical commodities adjacent to the building were also a challenge for firefighters overnight.
Fire officials said the building's sprinkler system was last inspected in January and was functioning at that time. Investigators are now working to determine why it failed during the fire.
Authorities also raised concerns about hazardous materials inside the warehouse. While a full inventory has not been released, officials said the building contained robots equipped with lithium-ion batteries.
"That all burned, and lithium ion batteries that, you know, get destroyed by fire end up causing, you know, hydrogen fluoride gas, and that's not good," Bagley said.
The Medline distribution center supplies medical goods across Northern California. Fire officials said they are working with the company to move trucks carrying unaffected supplies out of the area and on to their destinations as crews continue battling the fire.
Medline and FedEx have released statements Monday morning as a massive fire continues to burn at the Medline distribution facility. FedEx confirmed that its adjacent building was not damaged.
Here is Medline's statement:
"On June 11, a fire impacted Medline's distribution facility in Tracy, California. We are grateful that all Medline employees and on-site personnel were safely evacuated and accounted for.
The Tracy facility is part of Medline's expansive distribution network, and specifically a local distribution center largely serving parts of Northern California.
Medline's supply chain is designed with resiliency, scale and flexibility at its core. Immediately following this incident, Medline activated a command center and a network contingency plan and began incorporating secondary and tertiary distribution centers. Product distribution previously supported by the Tracy facility has been reassigned and it is in the process of being deployed to other facilities within our regional network to help maintain service and support customer needs."
Here is FedEx's statement:
"Our thoughts remain with those affected by this event. Safety is our top priority. We are thankful our team members are safe and appreciate the efforts of the local fire department and our safety team. As this remains an active scene, additional questions should be directed to the local authorities. Our building sustained no damages. Once the fire department clears the scene, our team will implement contingency plans to ensure service continuity. Customers with questions about their shipments can track their packages on fedex.com."
A massive warehouse fire that started around 1 p.m. Thursday is still burning Friday morning.
The million-square-foot warehouse was torched with black smoke billowing into the sky, and officials say it could keep going for days.
As of Friday morning, there is still a large plume of smoke that is being described as a "wall of smoke."
Fire crews are expected to be on scene the next few days.
The Tracy Fire Department says when firefighters first arrived inside the building, the warehouse's sprinkler system was not working.
They also said that the fire hydrants built in the facility weren't providing good pressure.
"We had problems with water pressure initially on the fire," Chief Randall Bradley said. "The fire hydrants within the yard of the facility had lacked pressure. So we had to connect to the fire hydrants on the street from the water, municipal water system."
A man who works inside the Medline warehouse said it was clear how fast things were spreading.
"I thought they'd be able to contain it within that area and that the other departments would be able to go to work and stuff," Antonio Talavera said. "But it spread so fast. I would say within 30 minutes, half the building was covered already."
The Medline warehouse is a total loss.
First responders say one of their top priorities when they arrived on scene here was to make sure this massive fire didn't spread anywhere else.
Crews saved an adjacent FedEx facility that caught fire.
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