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Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 7:46 pm
by ckellogg5
I used to shop this store all the time when I lived nearby. It was always a fairly busy Safeway. Hopefully they will rebuild but who knows at this point with the closures they have been doing lately.

https://t.co/4IAkE84AuJ?amp=1

Phoenix Safeway roof collapses, massive fire.

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 7:52 pm
by jamcool

Re: Phoenix Safeway roof collapses, massive fire.

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 9:41 pm
by arizonaguy
I watched the live footage of the fire for a while (as the letters SAFEWAY and the "S" logo fell off the building). The store is a total loss as everything was destroyed except for the exterior walls.

I don't expect Safeway to rebuild this store as I'm sure it was on the shortlist for one of their next rounds of closures (it is located in a "lower income" area with similar demographics to the recent closures of 51st Ave / Olive, 67th Ave / Peoria, 59th Ave / Thunderbird, and 32nd St / Thunderbird).

I'd expect the Albertsons 2 miles away at 19th Ave / Northern to be converted to a Safeway over the next year or so as the "replacement."

Re: Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 9:46 pm
by arizonaguy
I watched the live footage of the fire for a while (as the letters SAFEWAY and the "S" logo fell off the building). The store is a total loss as everything was destroyed except for the exterior walls.

I don't expect Safeway to rebuild this store as I'm sure it was on the shortlist for one of their next rounds of closures (it is located in a "lower income" area with similar demographics to the recent closures of 51st Ave / Olive, 67th Ave / Peoria, 59th Ave / Thunderbird, and 32nd St / Thunderbird).

I'd expect the Albertsons 2 miles away at 19th Ave / Northern to be converted to a Safeway over the next year or so as the "replacement."

Re: Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 10:17 pm
by SamSpade
This made the KGW - 8 news in Oregon. This is our second story from Phoenix this week.

The falling letters and chopper video was pretty cool.

Don't these stores have sprinkler systems?

Based on the linked report, it sounds like there may have been other factors.

Re: Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 10:24 pm
by arizonaguy
SamSpade wrote: July 11th, 2018, 10:17 pm This made the KGW - 8 news in Oregon. This is our second story from Phoenix this week.

The falling letters and chopper video was pretty cool.

Don't these stores have sprinkler systems?

Based on the linked report, it sounds like there may have been other factors.
There was a pretty bad dust / rainstorm or as people in Phoenix call a "monsoon" storm around the time of the fire.

It appears possible that a heavy windstorm and downpour caused part of the roof to collapse and/or sparked an electrical fire (as people inside the store said that there were massive puddles of water inside prior to the fire breaking out).

This is what the area looked like just prior to the fire (the store is on the right hand side of the frame at the beginning of the clip, the Loan Mart (former Long John Silvers) is in the Safeway parking lot): https://story.snapchat.com/s/m:W7_EDlXW ... B7V7AHanAA

Re: Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 10:53 pm
by Super S
SamSpade wrote: July 11th, 2018, 10:17 pm This made the KGW - 8 news in Oregon. This is our second story from Phoenix this week.

The falling letters and chopper video was pretty cool.

Don't these stores have sprinkler systems?

Based on the linked report, it sounds like there may have been other factors.
Local fire codes may not require sprinkler systems depending on age of the building and other factors. But still, most major chains are likely to have them. Sprinklers don't stop everything though...this reminds me of the Kmart in Santa Rosa that burned down in the wildfires not long ago.

Re: Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 12th, 2018, 11:13 am
by BillyGr
Seems elsewhere there was a thought that the roof collapsing may have broken a gas line, which would probably make the fire much harder to deal with.

Re: Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 12th, 2018, 11:36 am
by ckellogg5
Supposedly where the roof collapsed was also the sprinkler riser for the store. So if that was broken when the roof collapsed the sprinklers wouldn’t have worked anyways

Re: Safeway Fire. At 35th and Northern Phoenix

Posted: July 12th, 2018, 3:03 pm
by jamcool