Mt Washington Car Fires

[peakbagger]

https://www.wmur.com/article/3-vehicles-catch-fire-mount-washington-nh-07242022/40698535

If does call into question how the Cog is going to supply fire protection to the proposed tourist accommodations adjacent to the summit? If as they state they are going to hire a firm that builds campers to build the rail cars, Campers are typically quite flammable construction, wrapped in "tin". The state park building is a concrete structure and presumably the Obs crew has standard operating procedures for fire events for their paid staff but this does raise an issue with new tourist accommodations near the summit relying on at best a 30 minutes response time?. At the least, my guess is there will need to be a big increase in water storage at the summit and possibly sprinklers installed in and the new cars to allow incipient stage fires to be controlled.

I have always wondered how AMC has avoided an inadvertent fire in the huts?. My guess is they are "grandfathered" by fire code from sprinklers for accommodations as was the Red Jacket hotel in Conway, that had a wing burned to the ground earlier this year. I do know at one point long ago that AMC had to install fire protection systems in the kitchens of all the huts. I remember talking to the vendor in North Conway who did fire protection, how AMC had a tough time getting a firm to bid the work, this guy was a long term hiker so he installed the systems and as part of the ongoing maintenance he or one of his employees got a free stay at every one of the huts at the beginning of the season to inspect the systems and get them ready for the season.

 

[NHClimber]

I was impressed that the FD made it up the road in 20 minutes with tank trucks. It's not Travis Pastrana, but still not bad. So there is no water at the summit for the various summit buildings?

 

[maineguy]

I find it quite incomprehensible that there is no installed firefighting system at the summit. Is this the case? Are any of the personnel employed at the summit even trained in some rudimentary firefighting procedures? Isn't there any firefighting equipment available from the Cog that could have been used? What about when there were diesel generators and fuel storage facilities up there? Yikes

 

[peakbagger]

Gorham FD definitely set a very good time from dispatch to the summit. It has a couple of paid pros but rely on volunteers (who get paid per call) to respond.

There are reportedly some low yield wells on the summit and water is also hauled up for the summit building in summer. in winter the obs only has one bathroom so water use is low. The cog has stated they have rights to drill wells. Generally, for fire fighting there has to be large storage tanks as rarely would there be a high yield aquifer near the top of a mountain. Ideally the tanks would be elevated above the point of need but the alternative are some large fire pumps that run on multiple sources of power. I do not know the capacity of the power line to the summit but that would be a logical primary source with a diesel backup. Note the summit aquifer may have some contamination but would be fine for fire fighting. Given the plans for a large covered deck, large water tanks could be installed for seasonal use but expect buried may be an issue due front depth so they might need to be drained and filled annually to support summer use. As for volume of water needed its calculation based on Fire Code and structure value. Presumably who pays for and maintains the tankage and equipment would be worked out during the permitting.

Reportedly the prior major fire and the close call on staff living in the building at the Glen House site, brought forth some major deficiencies in building code and construction in the unincorporated townships. After that near miss and the proposed project at the Balsams, Coos county put in a far stricter oversight and expect that any development on the summit would be under the same scrutiny.

BTW, the obs had been handed responsibility for the generator plant when WMTW pulled their staff off the summit. When the fire started in the generator building fuel was being pumped from the storage tanks near home stretch, the fuel lines in the generator building reportedly were spraying fuel into the fire. Weather conditions were dangerous and most likely the Obs staff would not have saved the building.

 

[ChrisB]

I find it quite incomprehensible that there is no installed firefighting system at the summit. Is this the case? Are any of the personnel employed at the summit even trained in some rudimentary firefighting procedures? Isn't there any firefighting equipment available from the Cog that could have been used? What about when there were diesel generators and fuel storage facilities up there? Yikes

The gaps in fire prevention are indeed astounding.

A $3M, 70 foot yacht burned to the water line and sank in the mouth of Portsmouth harbor two weeks ago.

Three million bucks and ya don’t even get any kind of fire suppression system?



Yacht was named Too Elusive!

 

[Salty]

The gaps in fire prevention are indeed astounding.
Three million bucks and ya don’t even get any kind of fire suppression system?

Guaranteed fire suppression once it sinks.