NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 47

that can burn and can be released
because they're in combustible containers. That puts some pressure on the fire
service to figure out how they're going
to regulate them."

TOP: ANGELO VERZONI; BOTTOM: NFPA CONFERENCE & EXPO PRESENTATION, RACK-STORED
DISTILLED SPIRITS STORAGE PROTECTION© 2017 FM GLOBAL . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

THE CRAFT CONCERN
In January, the Pittsburgh Fire Department was called to Wigle Whiskey, a
craft distillery that opened in 2012
in the city's Strip District. When firefighters arrived, they discovered that
a boiler inside the distillery, located in
a mixed-use brick building about 70
feet from an apartment complex, had
exploded. Fire did not break out, but
one employee suffered minor injuries.
While losses from the incident were
minimal, it illustrates why there's concern over these facilities: you never
know where they're going to pop up.
Although the Heaven Hill Distillery
fire of 1996 was a massive blaze, jumping from one warehouse to another
and decimating what was at the time
two percent of the world's whiskey
stock, it burned only on the facility's
sweeping plot of rural Kentucky land.
But that luxury of seclusion isn't
afforded to the many smaller distilleries located in repurposed buildings
on dense city blocks. What if, for
example, a fire had broken out after
the Wigle Whiskey boiler explosion
and spread to nearby apartments or
other businesses?
The fire hazard of making and
storing distillates can be significant.
According to data in a 2005 version
of the fire protection manual created
by the Distilled Spirits Council of the
STORAGE CONCERNS Evaporation of alcohol vapor from stored barrels (top) must be
United States (DISCUS), pure ethamanaged with proper ventilation. Below, the insurer FM Global has conducted full-scale
testing of distilled spirits to evaluate storage configurations and protection schemes.
nol-the alcohol present in spirits,
beer, and wine-releases more than
half the energy of 100-octane gasoline
when it burns; the gasoline releases
degrees F-well below room temperabond fire. "As the temperature of the
20,750 BTU per pound, while ethanol
ture-while the flashpoint of a 40
fire increased, the spirit casks in the
releases 12,800 BTU per pound. The
percent ABV solution is 79 degrees F.
warehouse had begun to rupture. This
figure is much lower for ethanol-waWhen fires involving spirits do
not only sent rivers of burning alcohol
ter solutions measuring 40 percent
break out, they can result in much
down the street, but caused a danABV-the level of alcohol present in
more than a monetary loss. One of the
gerous build-up of fumes within the
80-proof distilled spirits-at about
largest firefighter fatality incidents
building," according to The Herald, a
4,300 BTU per pound. Flashpoints, or
in history occurred during a fire in a
Scottish newspaper.
the temperature at which liquids give
warehouse where whiskey was being
Besides location, there are also
off enough vapor to ignite in air, also
stored in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1960.
concerns over who owners are willing
shed light on the dangers of distilling.
Nineteen firefighters died in the blaze,
to let inside the facilities. A feaThe flashpoint of pure ethanol is 55
known as the Cheapside Street whisky
ture common to almost every craft
N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

| 47

http://WWW.NFPA.ORG/JOURNAL

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - March/April 2018