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Fire Destroys Aircraft Hangar, California A metal aircraft hangar containing a fixed-wing plane and a glide destroyed when heat from a fire caused it to collapse. The fire may have been burning for some time when a passerby discovered it, since the building had fire-detection or—suppression systems. Built on a slab foundation,the single steel-frame hangar had metal walls, a metal roof,and partition walls that divided the building into several sections that could be sublet. However,the walls didn't extend to the ceiling. Responding to a 911 call at 7:10 p.m.,fire crews arrived seven minutes later to fmd the building well involved in fire, its metal walls glowing red from the heat and flames venting through the roof. The incident commander called several other fire departments to help extinguish the fife, but the hangar and its contents were destroyed. Investigators determined that the fire started under a wood-frame mezzanine in the hangar,but they were unable to locate the ignition source. Losses were estimated at$400,000 for the building and$500,000 for its contents. There were no injuries. Kenneth J.Tremblay,2004,Online exclusive,"Firewatch",NFPA Journal,Ianuary/February. Cutting Torch Ignites Airplane Hangar,Nebraska Work crews using a cutting torch to remove an old overhead door track from an airplane hangar t started-a fire that smoldered for nearly five hours before it was detected.By that time,the fire �+ had spread into concealed roof spaces.A 30-mile-per-hour(48-kilometer-per-hour) wind and a limited water supply hampered extinguishment efforts, and the fire eventually destroyed the structure and its contents. The unsprinklered hangar,which was 180 feet(55 meters) long, 120 feet(37 meters)wide, and 40 feet(12 meters)high,was constructed mainly of wooden bowstring trusses with concrete buttresses.Metal covered the roof and walls,and there was no fire detection equipment.At the time of the fire,the structure housed two planes,hazardous materials, and fuel. The fire department received a 911 call from a passerby and responded at 6:52 p.m.with an engine,a ladder truck,and an ambulance.The initial attack using two 2 I/2-inch hose lines was quickly withdrawn to defensive positions, as the fife spread through an 8-foot(2-meter)void near the roof.Fire crews set up unmanned portable monitors just inside the door,and played deck guns and hose lines into the burning building. The extinguishment effort was complicated by a limited water supply.An 8-inch(20-centimeter) main fed the hydrants, and the amount of water needed to supply the large-diameter nozzles far outweighed the supply in the system.Additional resources were called, and all companies laid 5- inch feeder lines from hydrants some distance from the hangar The hangar roof collapsed at 7:18 p.m., only 26 minutes after the 911 call. 411110 Occupants told investigators that they originally smelled wood burning about 4:30 p.m., but thought a coffeepot had overheated.An hour later,the odor was still present,but no one could