Chicagoland bowling alley inferno

[Mr. Blister]

Overnight this past Friday into Saturday...another lantern fell over.

The cause is still not confirmed.

I heard this on a local news radio station while driving away from the bowling center in which I work (in the Chicago skyline). I was busy pulling the carpet covers out of our machines early in the morning on Saturday. Turns out that at the same time, a center about 25 miles south of me was still smoldering.

If you go to the second link I posted here & watch the video, you will see what a melted Model A looks like.

The fire consumed everything in the place, not just the bowling portion. This center is considered a total loss.


Our hearts go out to the Tadevich's

?

ttps://patch.com/illinois/oakforest/park-gone-keith-staff-crushed-burning-oak-forest-bowl


Oak Forest Bowl fire: Oak Forest bowling alley fire destroys business at 15240 South Cicero Avenue, city officials say - ABC7 Chicago?

[Wookie8662]

So sad.

[Mr. Blister]

I never worked in that center & I never went bowling down that way (it's a south suburb & I'm in the northern suburbs). I have to wonder....
Were the lane surfaces still original wood? We know that lane frames are typically pine & dried out easily compared to more expensive timber

I'm thinking...

1. Retaliational vandalism
2. Insurance fraud (arson)
3. Electrical

it has been stated that the fire was first noticed by means of a smoke trail from around a mile away from the center & that no one was in the building.

When the center I began in partially burned back in 2005, we had two overnight porters. I remember in the newspapers it stated " no one was present in the building at the time of response to the fire...".

Well....hmmm.

[Headpin]

Interested to know the ignition source.

Adequate insurance will lesson the financial pain. Healing the emotional pain is far more difficult.

Hopefully the ignition hasn't been caused by persons who are not qualified and allowed to perform electrical work that is due to inadequate electrical licensing and regulations that are prevalent.

[Mr. Blister]

Adequate insurance will lesson the financial pain.

see theory # 2

[Headpin]

see theory # 2

Arson investigators are very good at identifying the source of ignition.

An electrical fault would be high on my list of probable causes. One loose electrical connection that is arcing will cause heat and a possible ignition source.

Are smoke detectors mandatory requirements in commercial premises in the USA?

[Mr. Blister]

Arson investigators are very good at identifying the source of ignition.

An electrical fault would be high on my list of probable causes. One loose electrical connection that is arcing will cause heat and a possible ignition source.

Are smoke detectors mandatory requirements in commercial premises in the USA?

I too am first leaning toward electrical. It tends to be the predominantly hurried & misunderstood (and therefore riskiest) part of infrastructure & our machines. That's why I'm still shaking in my boots with self-consciousness.

Recently I've been the one restoring our overhead lighting in the back (replacing ballasts, fuses & their holders). I'm VERY thorough about component ratings, surroundings & placement, terminations & adequate insulation as according to NEC code as it applies in Chicago (which has it's own complexity of electrical laws on top of the national guidelines). Still....I'm human.

While working with the lighting (277v, 20 Amps has to be handled with more consideration & protection than 120v, 15-20 Amps). I obviouly had to catch calls & make responsive repairs (distractions). I still have to link the ground together for all the fixtures too!!!!

NERVOUS!!

[Headpin]

Any update on the ignition cause?

Your lighting is on a 20 Amp circuit? That doesn't seem right, well, not compared to AUS standards. 10 Amp circuit breaker protection is standard for a lighting circuit here.
How many lights are powered on the same circuit that necessitates 20 amp feed?

Maybe, I misunderstand your post?

[Mr_Brunswick]

Fire That Destroyed Oak Forest Bowl Was Accidental, Authorities Say | Oak Forest, IL Patch?

[Mr_Brunswick]

...you will see what a melted Model A looks like.[/URL]?

They were A-2's

Yea, I know, I'm being picky, but if they had been AMF 82-70's and someone said 82-30, someone would had posted something about that...

[Mr. Blister]

They were A-2's

Yea, I know, I'm being picky, but if they had been AMF 82-70's and someone said 82-30, someone would had posted something about that...

That's ok. I saw the ball track support on the melted pinsetter & it looked like the kind that are standard in Model A's.

[Headpin]

Fire That Destroyed Oak Forest Bowl Was Accidental, Authorities Say | Oak Forest, IL Patch?

Accidental means that it wasn't deliberately caused but, doesn't tell us what was the ignition source.

[Mr. Blister]

Accidental means that it wasn't deliberately caused but, doesn't tell us what was the ignition source.

Was just going to iterate that.

If nobody was around, in the middle of the night, what kind of "accident" can you have?

Initially, the fire seemed to subside. Then they spotted the smoldering on the roof in the rear of the building.

-excerpt from article

[Mr. Blister]

Any update on the ignition cause?

Your lighting is on a 20 Amp circuit? That doesn't seem right, well, not compared to AUS standards. 10 Amp circuit breaker protection is standard for a lighting circuit here.
How many lights are powered on the same circuit that necessitates 20 amp feed?

Maybe, I misunderstand your post?

Doesn't seem like you're misunderstanding. It's a relevant/knowledgeable question & statement that you made.

Chicago has it's own 'special' Electrical Code within a county (Cook County) code, which is within a state code (Illinois), and all of those are overseen with the National Code (NEC).


Around the turn of the millennium, the City of Chicago code (with a little influence placed on it by new trends in suburban commercial electrical set-ups) was tweaked a bit as far as 277v lighting applications. In the light fixtures I'm working on, each of them have an independent fuse between the hot (paralleling) phase feed & the ballast. The older code stipulated that unless your lights were individually fused within their circuit branch each breaker for each lighting circuit had to be rated no greater than 15 Amps.

It was basically rescinded & contractors/installers could go by the general NEC code around the year 2000 or 2001. It became optional (but still remains common sense/common practice) to fuse each light fixture (which personally I think each should be fused anyhow for both safety & diagnostics reasons) and allowable to install 20 Amp breakers on such circuits to allow for some expansion on a given 277v branch later, but it also allows for lower material costs as far as copper because the feeding (line or post-line load) wire runs can be longer & there's less cutting & splicing of wires & you don't have to begin a new circuit for just a few more loads. It's for consolidation/expense reasons.

[jim_long]

I have yet to ever see a bowling center burn halfway down.

Unless they had sprinklers.