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Type Occupancy: Aircraft hangar State: Kansas Month: July Time: 9:09 pm Dollar Loss: $27,891,000 Property Characteristics and Operating Status: This single-story aircraft hangar was of heavy timber construction. It had a ground-floor area of at least 100,000 square feet. The hangar was not occupied at the time of the fire. Fin Protection Systems: There was no automatic fire protection equipment present in the hangar. Fire Development: Workers using a torch to seal roofing tar paper accidentally ignited wooden roof members. The fire spread throughout the hangar, destroying the entire structure and the 27 aircraft stored inside it. Contributing Factors and Other Details: None were reported. Michael 1.Sullivan, 1994, "Property Loss Rises in Large-Loss Fires,''NFPA Journal,November/December,96. Improper Clean-Up Leads to Fire Hours Later; Arizona As a commuter flight was taking to the air, the pilot spotted smoke issuing from an unoccupied hangar at this Arizona airport.He radioed his corporate office,which telephoned the fire department at 6:45 am. The all-steel hangar, which measured 216 by 58 feet and was one, two,and three stories high, had an executive office on a third-floor observation deck. Associated offices,aircraft storage, a machine shop, parts storage, and a repair facility were on the remaining floors. The building had no fixed fire protection systems; it was built before 1987, when a local ordinance mandating sprinklers in such facilities was adopted. Firefighters worked for several hours before they were able to control and extinguish the stubborn blaze. They were hampered by an inadequate water supply from the nearest hydrant some 1,400 feet away. In addition, the hangar's large overhead doors were electrically operated and could not be opened manually for either access or ventilation. Hours of delay before the fire was discovered and intense heat from the flammable liquids involved in the blaze also hindered firefighting. Investigators believed that the fire began when a pile of soiled rags ignited spontaneously. Between 3:00 and 4:00 pm on the day before the fire,workmen had used the rags to clean the sticks with which they stirred a base paint after a catalyst hardener had been added to it.These and other rags saturated with paint thinner were then left on a wooden workbench.Investigators