UPDATE @ 8:30 p.m. (Sept. 7): A "major electrical failure" on the 30th floor of Dayton's tallest building led to a fire and a lot smoke that has knocked out the building's air conditioning and caused what fire department District Chief James Rose said was "pretty extensive" damage.
Crews were dispatched to the Kettering Tower, 40 N. Main St., about 6:20 p.m. on a report of smoke on the 28th floor. Rose said a breaker or other electrical panel got very hot and shorted things out. A Fiberglas ladder nearby caught fire.
“We think that was the cause for most of the smoke,” he said. “It never got very thick.”
Rose said the two affected floors were evacuated and a Dayton fire/medic crew tended to one person, but that person did not require a trip to a hospital.
No tenants — including the Dayton Racquet Club, which is atop the tower — will be affected for business Thursday, he said, but there is no air conditioning. Engineers will be working all night to trace the cause of the electrical failure and to repair the air conditioning. Some of the upper floors are operating on emergency generators for now.
Rose said firefighters used a combination of stairwells and freight elevators to make it to the 30th floor.
“We were able to make use of the elevators as much as we could,” he said.
Rose couldn’t estimate the dollar amount of damage, but characterized it as being “pretty extensive, just given the nature of the components that failed…. I know they’re not cheap.”
There is a sprinkler system in the tower but it was not activated. He said the fire was isolated in such a manner and may not have detected enough heat or smoke to set them off.
The building’s alarm was sounding when crews arrived, Rose said, noting that he assumes the alarm went straight to police/fire dispatch center.
FIRST REPORT (Sept. 7)
Crews are at the Kettering Tower in downtown Dayton on a report of smoke on the 28th floor.
Dayton fire crews were dispatched to 40 N. Main St. about 6:20 p.m. They are there now, checking offices.
There have been no reports of injuries.
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