Amazon Fresno warehouse three-alarm fire burns solar panels, stops work
Cleanup continued Wednesday after a fire on the roof of the massive Amazon warehouse in south Fresno grew to three alarms Tuesday afternoon.
Fresno Fire Department officials said Wednesday that damages were estimated at $500,000. The cause is undetermined.
Firefighters took about an hour putting out the fire on the 855,000-square-foot building, Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Tim Fulmer said. There were no injuries.
Smoke from burning solar panels could be seen for miles.
Amazon said Wednesday afternoon that it was waiting for an all-clear from the Fresno Fire Department before restarting work. In an email statement, the online retail giant said, “The health and safety of our associates is our number one priority and were sent home with pay. We are working with emergency responders to assess the damage and will re-open once local authorities determine it’s safe to do so.”
The fire department responded to the fulfillment center on Orange and Central avenues about 3 p.m. Firefighters found 20 solar panels burning, Fulmer said. Eventually, 50 firefighters and several EMS responded.
Fulmer said about 600 employees were at work at the time of the fire.
Amazon opened its Fresno order-filling warehouse in May 2018.
Company officials told The Bee at a grand opening celebration last year that the warehouse measures 855,000 square feet and has about 2,500 total employees, a couple of thousand robots, and 10 miles of automated conveyor belts.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 3:57 PM.
