Quad Graphics building Collapse & fire
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TV ClubHouse: archives: Quad Graphics building Collapse & fire

Ketchuplover

Friday, July 12, 2002 - 10:07 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
tonight (Fri) at about 9:30 central time a 10 story building at the quad graphics facilty in Lomira,WI collapsed & burst into flames.

The structure was an automated finishing plant. It had 25,000 pallets of paper

injuries & fatalities unknown. doesn't sound like there were a lot of people there,but i can't say for sure.

This plant(is 2 millon sq ft) is the largest printing plant in the western hemisphere. 1800 employees

The fallen building was completed about 2 months ago.

Kaili

Friday, July 12, 2002 - 10:18 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I was watching the news about this- it's on all the local channels because...ummm...it's only about 40 miles or so from me. They were saying (an employee on the phone who works the 7 am-7pm shift) that about 400 people would have been at work (they work 7 days per week with 12 hour shifts) but then were saying injuries (various hospitals including Fond du Lac & waupun) are on alert and possibly a few fatalities.

Wow, though- that fire is huge! Really going to hurt Lomira- they don't really have anything else there.

Spygirl

Friday, July 12, 2002 - 10:27 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I'm looking for information about it on cable and can't find anything.....still looking....

Kaili

Friday, July 12, 2002 - 10:35 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Probably might not be a huge national story? Yeah it's a big building/company (they print Newsweek and many many others) but at the same time, maybe it doesn't qualify as more than one of the little stories that runs on the bottom of the screen.

Story available at www.jsonline.com

Quad Fire

Spygirl

Friday, July 12, 2002 - 10:35 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wargod found this:

CNN News Article

LOMIRA, Wisconsin (CNN) -- Fire and smoke reduced part of a large printing facility to smoldering debris in rural Wisconsin Friday night.

It was still unclear if any workers were still inside the Quad/Graphics printing facility when it caught fire and collapsed around 9:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. EDT), local officials said.

Most of the fire had been put out two hours after the initial call, according to a spokesman for Dodge County Sheriff's Department.

The printing plant -- which houses an apartment complex, a full-service medical clinic, and several other amenities for its 2,000-plus employees -- is located on more than 2-million square feet of land, according to its Web site. Quad/Cities says its Lomira plant is the largest single printing facility in the Western hemisphere.

The area that collapsed and caught fire was about the size of two city blocks, local officials said.

Several area fire departments were called to the fire at in Lomira, about 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee, according to Fond du Lac Battalion Chief Jim Feiereisen.

Emergency crews and nearly a dozen ambulances from area hospitals were on stand-by, however no injuries or fatalities have been confirmed. It was too early for firefighters to enter the collapsed area to determine if any workers were trapped inside, however authorities did evacuate the building prior to the collapse, Feiereisen said.

The cause of the fire is still unclear.

"The question I have is did the fire cause the collapse, or did the collapse cause the fire," Feiereisen said. "We don't know yet."

Feiereisen said there were unconfirmed reports of an explosion before the fire broke out.

Hazardous materials team were also on the scene, the spokesman said, although Feiereisen said the area where chemicals were stored was not at risk from the fire.

Ketchuplover

Friday, July 12, 2002 - 11:19 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
the fire is still going.

Bookworm

Saturday, July 13, 2002 - 02:58 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
wow, I hadn't seen this on the news either. Any updates Ketchup or Kaili or Spy?

Kaili

Saturday, July 13, 2002 - 03:14 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I haven't heard anything today- not really watching TV though and the newspaper had the same basic info since it was all happening later at night. The last I heard last night was possibly a maintenance person was in there- otherwise they didn't know about any fatalities. All the channels have golf and race cars on though- baseball is preempting the news.

Ketchuplover

Sunday, July 14, 2002 - 11:28 am EditMoveDeleteIP
There was 1 death. An employee of a cleaning company. Part of the building collapsed on a car he was a passenger in. The driver survived.

The fire may burn for a week. Employees transferred. Cause of collapse still unknown.