Million-Square-Foot Tracy Warehouse Fire Could Burn For Days: What We Know

TRACY, CA — Crews from across California continued battling a massive fire that destroyed a million-square-foot medical supply facility in Tracy Thursday. Tracy Fire Deputy Chief Brian Bagley said the fire was the largest he had ever seen in his 20 years of service, and could take several days to extinguish.

On Thursday night, the city of Tracy declared a local state of emergency, allowing it to request state and federal assistance.

"This is such a unique fire," South San Joaquin County Fire Authority Chief Randall Bradley said at a Thursday night news conference. "There's probably three or four of these in the history of our country...this size of warehouse fire."

The fire broke out Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Medline Industries warehouse facility on Promontory Parkway in Tracy, city officials said in an update. Upon arrival, firefighters encountered a rapidly developing fire in the roof of the structure. High winds, low humidity, and high temperatures caused the fire to spread rapidly, and the fire engulfed the entire facility within 30 to 40 minutes, officials said. Bradley said that multiple explosions were heard during the fire, and confirmed they came from truck tires and medical products inside.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation as of Friday.

The fire also spread rapidly because the sprinklers were not activated for reasons that are still being determined, according to officials. Bradley also said firefighters encountered water supply problems within the facility's private fire protection system, including hydrants that lacked adequate pressure. Crews reportedly had to connect to municipal water lines about 1,600 feet away. Both the sprinklers and the water pressure were inspected as recently as January, Bradley said.

The fire also led to several spot fires nearby, including at large pallet storage areas and big rig trailers outside the nearby FedEx facility. There were also multiple spot fires in the area of Schulte and Larch roads, near Tracy Municipal Airport. Crews were able to successfully contain those fires, and no homes were evacuated. Employees from nearby warehouses, which included a FedEx and Amazon warehouse, were all evacuated, and as of Friday afternoon, no injuries were reported, though one firefighter was hospitalized for back spasms. Medline and FedEx released statements saying that all their employees were accounted for.

Roughly 300 emergency personnel from numerous agencies across the state were on scene, and many stayed as the fire continued to burn through the night. As of Friday, crew remain on-scene, and multiple monitoring sites have been set up nearby.

As of Friday, residents were still being asked to avoid Promontory Parkway in the area of Hansen Road. Residents can check perimetermap.com for all road closures.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District warned that plumes of smoke could cause a variety of health issues, and advised nearby residents to stay indoors, keep windows and doors closed, and use air filtration. The fire and strong winds also blew debris throughout neighboring parks, trails, roadways, and residential neighborhoods, according to KCRA. The debris caused spot fires throughout the city, KCRA said. The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services urged residents not to touch, move or collect the debris.

Medline Industries describes itself as the largest provider of medical-surgical products, and its products are shipped to numerous Bay Area health care facilities, according to numerous reports. Tracy Fire Department Deputy Chief Bagley said that several trucks will be used to deliver supplies to hospitals throughout the area.

Medline said it has 70 distribution centers globally, and has shifted distribution operations to other warehouses in its regional network to continue serving customers. Sutter Health, one of the many health care organizations served by Medline, told KCRA that it “does not anticipate broad impacts” and has contingency plans in place to maintain access to critical supplies.

The warehouse also included several hundred robots powered by lithium-ion batteries, Bradley said.

Still, Bagley said the fire could have nationwide supply-chain impacts.

“There’s a lot of medical equipment that are loaded up on those trucks that those hospitals and medical facilities are relying upon,” he said Friday morning. “This devastating fire is going to affect e-commerce throughout the nation, definitely on the western part of the United States.”

SEE ALSO:

• Massive Warehouse Fire Destroys Tracy Medical Supply Facility — Multiple Blazes Reported