Cause of July fire still unknown

By Valerie DePan

Consultants have been touring the maintenance facilities in order to provide estimates for a 350-ton chiller that caught fire earlier this summer.

The cause of the fire is still undertermined.

The college is presently operating on a back-up 350-ton chiller. The 40-year-old chiller is used as part of the air conditioning system for the entire campus.

Lee Hager, a 21-year veteran of the college’s facilities management division, who holds an electrical license, warned, “Should temperatures exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit, then the integrity of the back up system may fail.”

Staci Huffaker, executive assistant of insurance and risk management for the college, said, “The insurance underwriter, Hartford Steam Boiler, is an East Coast firm. Presently, the college is in negotiations with Hartford, Marsh U.S.A., the broker, and Pace, Liability Insurance Pool, to produce a reasonable settlement” to get the chiller up and running again.

Gary Murph, Mt. Hood’s chief operating officer, is in charge of the negotiations. Murph, who said he isn’t satisfied with the insurance company’s first offer, has asked the insurance company to reevaluate its first settlement to be based on an in-depth scope of work that includes options and competitive local prices.

Don Wallace, director of facilities management, said the estimates to fix the chiller are not yet determined but could be as high as $200,000 or more. McKinistry and Trane Oregon provided the preliminary estimates for insurance purposes; however, the college is mandated by Oregon law to bid the project through an unbiased public process. Murph and Huffaker confirmed Trane Oregon was called because their name was on the chiller and they provided the original installation, as well as, the onsite remediation to remove the freon from the chiller that is not explosive but toxic to the environment.

Johnson Controls is one of four vendors who have toured the chiller and control box to become familiar with the project as part of reconnaissance. To date, the college is expecting proposals from Johnson Controls, Trane Oregon, McKinistry, and Donald Miller. All firms are consultants specializing in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning services.

Around 6 a.m., July 21, Roy Homes, a Mt. Hood Community College maintenance employee, was standing in front of the college’s 350-ton chiller resetting the panel when he heard a loud boom and saw 15 to 20 foot flames shooting up from the back of the chiller.

The incident report indicated that it is normal for the chiller to shut down, due to a high workload during some of the hottest days of the year. The chiller is then manually reset. The emergency sprinkler located above the chiller activated and dampened the fire preventing any further damage. Homes, following protocol, immediately contacted Public Safety and the Gresham Fire Department.

Gresham Fire and Emergency Services arrived at the scene within minutes. In an Investigative Arson Narrative filed in the days following, Deputy Fire Marshal Luis Lawrence concluded that the fire was incidental and occurred when the transformer failed, and that the resulting fusing of metal allowed a voltage spike to transfer through the low voltage wires to the chiller. Exactly how the fire began is still the larger issue. Hager said, “It was a freak fire, probably due to mechanical failure of the aging equipment.”

Wallace said, “There is a lot of speculation that includes a spark from a mechanism starter component, which may have caused the fire, coupled with a broken oil line,” which would explain the loud boom and shooting flames. Another theory includes a power surge, or worse, combustible material in the perimeter of the chiller, according to an off-handed comment made by Terry Mayfield with Johnson Controls who was onsite Monday.

Mayfield, who was touring the plant, speculating on the cause of the fire, asked if there were any oily rags in the vicinity when the fire occurred. Wallace replied, “I arrived within a few minutes after the fire, and I didn’t see any oily rags laying about.” A formal apology has been received from Johnson Controls, according to Wallace in a follow up phone interview Wednesday. Nevertheless, Hager said, “The equipment is almost 40 years old. It was the original cooling system installed at the time the college was built.”

The college is still evaluating whether to repair, rebuild, or replace the chiller. Wallace said replacing the older chiller, which was originally designed to older codes in an era when efficiency wasn’t as much of a concern as it is today, could provide savings up to 40 percent or 50 percent annually. Outside sources indicate that a new chiller could pay for the cost of itself in savings in as little as two to three years.

If the $58.8 million Nov. 7 bond measure is successful, an estimated $200,000, or the lowest bid, could be earmarked for the cost to rebuild and upgrade the chiller or replace it. The college is awaiting results of the November bond before making any final decisions on the best way to proceed, and prioritize much-needed repairs. New state-of-the-art chillers are part of the college’s updated facilities master plan for the upcoming years.