Fires at Wendys?

[CaptainGonzo]

Last night, we had a report of a grill fire at our local Wendy's.

The fire was in the grill contols, located under the unit. There was no way the kitchen supression system would have tripped.

The fire was caused by a grease buildup. A call to the Board of Health's on call inspector, shut off the power. a quick blast of dry chem, then venting the area via PPV did the trick.

This is the second time it has happened.. .as a matter of fact, almost a year to the day.. and yes, my group was working again.

Has anyone has similar problems with a Wendy's in their districts?

[resqb1]

Yeah Chief:

Had the same thing when I was on our Rescue. Wendy's was next door. I was in that house 6 years, my shift went over twice for those fires. Both times one of the managers sent a kid over to knock on the door and have us come over. Both times knocked down just like you said, quick shot of dry chem and done. Didn't have to vent the building, we'd crank the grill exhaust system right after we hit it with the dry chem. No muss, no fuss. Manager thankful, free Frosty's all around.

[Geinandputitout]

Same story - went to one of them and asked the manager to have the steam cleaners be sure to get everything next time. Haven't been back.

[SPFDRum]

Not Wendy's, but we have a number of Asian restaurants in my district and had much the same scenario. With the same lack of activation of the ansul system.
Needless to say, we are getting fairly adept at disassembling the various grill tops.

[FDAIC485]

We are pretty strict about the hood systems with our fire inspections. This keeps the instances of this type of job relatively low.

[HoseSimian]

We have been to our wendys at least 4 times in the last two year for the same thing

[CaptainGonzo]

Thanks for the replies so far.

The hoods and kitchen suprression aka ansuls were cleaned and within their inspection dates.

[hwoods]

We respond on the First Alarm to 4 Wendy's, but I've only been to one for a Fire. That one was a few years back, Electrical short, burned a few square feet inside an exterior wall. I can't remember a Grill or Hood Fire around here in years.

[THEFIRENUT]

My only grill fire was when one of the fryers was left on. The suppression system did its job. Small amount of fire up in the attic above the grill. Did minor damage to kitchen and structure above.

Now for the rest of the story......

One year later, lightning struck the restaurant and it burnt to the ground.

[FDAIC485]

My only grill fire was when one of the fryers was left on. The suppression system did its job. Small amount of fire up in the attic above the grill. Did minor damage to kitchen and structure above.

Now for the rest of the story......

One year later, lightning struck the restaurant and it burnt to the ground.

Yeah, if you have an old system without an auto gas shut-off or one were the gas shut-off doesn't work, once the oil starts boiling again it usually flares back up pretty quick.

Thanks for the replies so far.

The hoods and kitchen suprression aka ansuls were cleaned and within their inspection dates.

The grease builds-up that quick on grease metal. Think what it does to your arteries.:D :D

[IFDFFENG20]

I don't know how it started.

http://www.cfdhistory.com/htmls/incident.php?date=2007-09-09&altime=09:35:00&name=1%20Alarm%20855%20William %20Howard%20Taft%20Road

[Weruj1]

We have a Wendy's here and no incidents of that type............will keep that in mind, thanks Ron.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

I have done a bunch of these fires. Wendy's is no different than any other fast food joint.

The problem with these buildings is that they are built to replace. They are not built to withstand fire. The kitchens are virtually identical from location to location. They are purchased from one vendor as a kit and shipped to the location. They are installed by minimum wage employees with just enough skilled labor around to get past the inspectors.

These corporations are not interested in fire safety. In fact, I have been told by a representative of a fast food chain that the corporations actually plan on losing a certain number of restaurants per year to fire. Unless the damage is minor, they will take the cheap route and tear it down and rebuild it from scratch. It is cheaper and faster than devoting the resources to fix it.

If the restaurant was closed and there was no exposure hazard, I would not commit one FF to the interior if these places were well involved. Risk nothing to gain nothing.

[Ladder8]

A suspect was apprehended by police....

[RFxplr326]

I work at a local Burger King... Never had a problem that we needed to call out the FD in the 1 year I've been there - Almost one time though... Our broiler had too much grease in the ashpan. I just closed the gas line off and dumped the ashpan.

Company policy is to wash and scrub the hoods every night at close. Our controls for our friers are right by the hoods where as most other places have their controls below. The insides/guts of the friers get steam cleaned at least twice a year by a fire protection company when they come into check our ansul system and exhaust fans.

[fire0099881]

We used to try to clean the insides of the grills atleast once a month at the rest. I used to work at. The boss was a real prick about keeping equipment clean, but once in a blue moon there would be some grease inside the grill that would catch fire, not much since there was never really a lot of buildup, We would just keep an eye on it, and just let it burns itself out, since it was always contained underneath the grill top.

[dday05]

We had this problem at a local chinese rest. We went for a inspection as a shift. The inspector knocked them on it. They had grease running everywhere. It was pretty bad. Even had it running down the roof and stuff. The insp advised them to clean it. Ohhhh we don't understand your english! Well they understood having a company come in in 24 hours or your shut down which equals no money. That part they understood!

[Kobersteen]

A suspect was apprehended by police....

Here is the Zapruder film from just after that photo was taken... :eek:

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/file.php?40,file=2013

(forgive me...)

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

It takes some understanding of the exhaust system to make these people understand that cleaning the hood is just as important as cleaning the grill. If the hood is heavily coated and the fire gets up there, the suppression system will never put it out. Most suppression systems are designed to put out a fire on the grill, not in the hood or the duct work. Once its in the hood and duct, forget it.

[RFDACM02]

Has anyone has similar problems with a Wendy's in their districts?
Not the same cause, but similar issues with lack of employees deploying their suppression system. We responded to our Wendy's for a two tub fryolater fire, had to be a real fire because it was the first time they evacuated the place properly. But upon questioning they failed to activate the suppression system because "they had been told not too, just call the FD." We went in and activated their system with perfect results. Ever since they came, we had terrible trouble getting Wendy's to follow basic alarm procedures. oddly enough they were small enough to not require and alarm, but they wanted it just the same, even though they ignored it/silenced it/reset it prior to our arrival on numerous occasions.

[hwoods]

George just made me think (again) of something. Most of these establishments have heavy air handling equipment on a Truss Roof. If I remember correctly, that situation has been responsible for some LODDs over the years. One of you Google nuts can probably find a trail.............. :) :)

[Bones42]

Don't have a Wendys, but we've been to Burger King 3 or 4 times. Two days in a row as a matter of fact...which is also the last time I got food from that Burger King for a lot of years.

French frier grease fire. Did not trip the overhead system. Employee dumped an extinguisher on it, which pretty much knocked it down. We disconnected the gas line and were able to move it out the back door. Next day, get called back for another fire. Yup, same machine. Came to find that after we left, they rolled it right back in and started fries up again.

Another call to heath inspector telling of what happened and find that they were too busy to respond on the previous day. :rolleyes:


There have been new Managers put into the store and they have done a great job at cleaning up the whole store. It now appears to be a fairly well run place. :)

[DocVBFDE14]

Last time we had one of these, it didn't go well :D

http://www.wavy.com/global/story.asp?s=2634288&ClientType=Printable

Believe this one started in a similar fashion:


Good post about this: http://forums.firehouse.com/showpost.php?p=468166&postcount=16

Just this weekend, another eatery had a fire in a pizza oven. These are fairly common in this area. Unfortunately for us, this area being military, is loaded with McDonalds, Burger King, Chik Fil A, Wendys and other fast food establishment.

[len1582]

Several years back at a Burger King the employees thought they had a grease flash fire out and didn't call the fire dept. It was running the ductwork and showed it head 45 minutes or so later on the floor above. The building was a 3-story mixed occupancy frame with BK on the ground floor and apartments above, attached both sides by other 3-story mixed frames. All balloon construction. 4 alarms and three buildings later the rest is history.

[QueenCityFF]

At a previous department, we went to a different fast food joint 2-3 times for fire in a fryer, but where hood system would not get.

First time we took a dry chem in and 1-2 quick burst did the trick, but there wasn't adequate ventilation, so the kitchen area was contaminated. Got chewed out by an assistant chief because they were going to be shut down a couple of days to clean and the health department had to come out. We were instructed to bring a CO2 extinguisher next time.

Ironically, a month later, we had the same situation and we took the CO2 extinguisher in. Same assistant chief wanted to know why we brought that instead of the dry chem extinguisher. Darned if you do, darned if you don't I guess.

[sfd2674]

havent heard of anything in our area and we have a couple wendys near by ... dont seem to be the cleanest places though

[MemphisE34a]

We have 2 of what would have to be the greasiest Wendy's in all the land right here in our first due. So far, no problems.

Well except for the fact that they charge us double so they don't lose money when the police eat for free.

Otherwise, everythings good.

[RFxplr326]

I have some more comments that you may want to think about at your next restaurant fire.
#1. I was never formally trained at Burger King. I had my interview and they called a week later and said they were short handed by 3 people and needed help ASAP. So I went right in to work. No orientation. No MSDS. I just filled out the rest of the paperwork and they threw me into the kitchen.
-There have been maybe 10 people hired since I was a year ago and only 5 of them have been "formally" trained. One of them has the MSDS stuff done... and I still don't.
#2. In the event of a fire, I'm willing to bet that other than the managers, there's probably only 5 of the 25 regular employees that know how to activate the Ansul system or know where the dry chem. fire extinguishers are and how to work one which includes myself. The Ansul system's activation is simple... Pull the levers by the back door that say "PULL." The dry chem. extinguisher... there's only a handful of us because the rest of the people I work with probably wouldn't be able to tell you how to dismount it from the holder, better yet, how to even spell fire. Some of the people I work with, and I'm willing to bet on this one, would put water on a grease fire. Some of the people I work with thought that water came out to the Ansul system as it is.
-Yes, I work with a bunch of... never mind.
-Our one of the dry chem. extinguishers is out on the open on the opposite side of the kitchen that the fryers are on. The second one is almost always covered by bun/bread trays in the way back of the kitchen near our back door.
#3. Like I mentioned previously, our hoods are removed, scrubbed, cleaned, and sanitized every night at close. Very strict company policy.
-The vent/hood systems are power washed and inspected at the very least of once a year but the General Managers get chewed out if it doesn't happen at least twice.

[Dickey]

We have had the same problem with McDonalds in the past month.

Fire in the hood, hood extinguisher system did not discharge on it's own, one of the employees did it manually. Then, the manager was all pi$$ed off the FD was called and did not welcome us at all. She almost fired that kid that activated it on the spot!

Inspectors have been hitting the restaurants hard ever since.

[Acklan]

Yep we had one about a month ago.

http://www.wafb.com/global/story.asp?s=7879263

[SAYakka]

Up north of the city there was a hungry jacks that went to a 2nd alarm and yeah it started in a kitchen

[Station2Capt]

George just made me think (again) of something. Most of these establishments have heavy air handling equipment on a Truss Roof. If I remember correctly, that situation has been responsible for some LODDs over the years. One of you Google nuts can probably find a trail.............. :) :)

Chief Woods you are 100% correct the multi LODD event in Houston was caused when an A/C unit on the roof collapsed. The link is http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200013.html

[voyager9]

Employee dumped an extinguisher on it, which pretty much knocked it down. We disconnected the gas line and were able to move it out the back door. Next day, get called back for another fire. Yup, same machine. Came to find that after we left, they rolled it right back in and started fries up again.

Who needs salt when you have Dry Chem powder?