DICK COLD STORAGE

Photo Courtesy of Ryan Leasure

Automatic smoke vents were part of the additional fire-protection plan for the renovation of Dick Cold Storage after it was destroyed by a fire in August 2016.

In August 2016, a fire started in the 144,000-square-foot warehouse of Dick Cold Storage in Columbus, Ohio. The building did not include rooftop smoke vents, which made fire-containment efforts in the cold-storage facility perilous. More than 400 firefighters fought the blaze, but, in the end, they could do little more than watch the fire burn itself out, which finally happened 18 hours later. Ultimately, the building was destroyed.

“Two of the biggest challenges we face in fighting any fire are heat and smoke,” explains Steve Martin, battalion chief for the Columbus Fire Department. “The heat of the fire radiates on everything surrounding it, causing the flames to spread and causing rapid degradation of structural elements.” Smoke vents may not have prevented the fire, but they would have allowed firefighters to more aggressively tackle the blaze. Some portions of the structure might have been saved if smoke vents had been in place.

“Buildings that do not lend themselves to ventilation, such as cold storage buildings, are especially dangerous to firefighters,” Martin explains. “If there is no known life-safety issue, firefighters will retreat to a defensive position and fight the fire from outside the building instead of going inside.”

In June 2018, a reconstructed facility was unveiled. It featured 50-foot ceilings for expanded vertical storage, 6 million cubic feet of storage space, 15,000 pallet positions, and seven multi-temperature storage rooms. The rebuilt Dick Cold Storage facility was equipped with the latest in cold storage technology and the capacity to cover a 550-mile radius, serving a population of more than 138 million people.

The new building also had many of the fire-protection technology and safeguards lacked in the original structure, such as horns and strobes, pull stations at doors, linear heat detection in freezers, and 18 automatic smoke vents. “Additional fire protection was one of the elements that we wanted to have in the new building,” Dick Cold Storage CEO Don Dick says. “We don’t have sprinklers, but we have a lot of other measures for fire protection throughout the building.”

The automatic smoke vents installed in the new facility feature a positive hold/release mechanism to ensure reliable operation. When the temperature at the ceiling of the facility reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius), the fusible link will melt and release the vent covers, allowing the hot gases and smoke to exit the building. Gas spring operators are designed to open the covers against snow and wind loads and include integral dampers to assure that the covers open at a controlled rate of speed.

“Vents allow for the removal of heat and smoke and potentially slow the spread of fire,” Martin says. “They will also permit firefighters to see and enter the building to possibly extinguish the fire early, preventing the entire building from becoming a loss.”

Beyond fire protection, the roofing components selected for cold storage facilities are especially critical because improperly installed or inefficient materials could allow excess moisture into the facility, which could cause troublesome bacterial growth. Structural damage from ice buildup on walls and slabs, higher utility costs, equipment that may require more maintenance or fail earlier than expected, and safety issues for workers can all be avoided by selecting a vapor-tight roof system. Automatic smoke vents that are fully insulated and gasketed provide weathertight performance that can help to maintain the very specific environmental conditions necessary in cold storage operations.