Preventing Future Industrial Fires

This is what the Future Ford fire looked like from the ground, moments after it started.  A while later from the air it looked more like a scene from a disaster movie.  Mechanic, Eric Kawaguchi, witnessed the whole thing from the start.

“I saw an invisible blue flame on the ground,” said Kawaguchi.  He was working on a car that was up on a rack when gas started spilling from the tank.  He says it only took a matter of seconds for fire to engulf the entire building.

“It goes so quickly.  First thing I knew the car was on fire, and then the roof.  And I'm standing there by myself with the fire extinguisher.  It was all the way to the roof so I was done,” recalls Kawaguchi.

Clovis Fire’s Gary Sawhill investigated that fire.  Wednesday he went back to Future Ford to talk safety with mechanics.  They work with plenty of dangerous materials, including gasoline.

“It's very volatile and very flammable.  We get complacent in dealing with it sometimes,” said Sawhill.

Mechanics, office workers and reporters got a turn handling a fire extinguisher.  Brett Hedrick of Hedrick’s Hallowell brought his staff from across the street.  They'd rather be proactive than reactive.

“I think it brought it into realization that this could happen to us,” said Hedrick.

The fire back in December caused 1.2 million dollars of damage.  Where the building once stood, is now just a dirt lot.