A massive fire in Tracy on June 11 destroyed a 1 million-square-foot medical supply distribution center, sent large plumes of thick, toxic smoke into the air for several days, and littered neighborhoods with debris. As many as 120 fire crews battled the fire at Medline Industries in the 5700 block of Promontory Parkway when it was most active. The fire broke out in an area with other warehouses like FedEx and Amazon. The majority of businesses remained in operation. On Wednesday, June 17, the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority said it officially ended the incident and was transferring responsibility to Medline and an environmental team hired by the company to continue cleanup efforts. The company, Clean Harbors, will oversee the process moving forward.Crews have used heavy equipment to pull down parts of the fire-damaged building What caused the fire? The cause of the fire is still being investigated. South San Joaquin County Fire Authority Chief Randall Bradley said the fire was believed to have started on the roof of the building. Crews responded around 1 p.m. Thursday and found “heavy fire” coming from the roof. Bradley said sprinklers were not operating and there was no water pressure for fire hydrants at the facility. He added that the failure of the private water system “significantly impacted” crews battling the fire. The sprinkler system was last tested in January. With the sprinklers not working, the large warehouse was “fully consumed” within 40 minutes.The South San Joaquin Fire Authority said Medline hired a third-party contractor to do the sprinkler inspection in January.Tracy Fire Deputy Chief Brian Bagley said the department believes the fire originated on the east end of the building, based on cellphone footage from early on in the incident. "The environmentalist team is completely separate from the fire sprinkler and alarm company that there's been some concerns about, like who tested it and all of that kind of stuff," Bagley said. "It was tested by a licensed fire and sprinkler alarm company. And that testing was done in January. And I'm sure they're getting a lot of inquiries as well. Right now, our community risk reduction division and fire marshal and investigation team is looking into all of those records to make informed decisions moving forward."KCRA 3 asked the fire authority and Medline who that third party was. Neither has provided an answer.The fire authority said testing of the sprinkler systems is required at least once a year, along with major sprinkler tests every five years. Videos from the fireMany KCRA 3 viewers shared videos of the massive fire at the medical supply warehouse. One of the videos obtained by KCRA 3 was recorded by someone inside the warehouse when the fire started showing flames at the top of a storage rack and sparks falling to the ground. The person who shared the video did not want to be identified, but said they heard the fire alarm go off and did not see sprinklers activate. Another anonymous viewer shared the video below near the fire:Neighborhoods littered with debrisThe fire scattered debris across neighborhoods and sparked spot fires across the city. Pieces of debris were also found in parks, trails and roadways. Resident Kim DeFrancis told KCRA 3’s Anahita Jafary that the debris was “soft, light, crispy.” Homeowners in the Tracy Hills neighborhood reported finding black, foam-like material covering yards, sidewalks and landscaping.“It was pretty bad. It was covered from the street up to here,” resident Gilbert Coronado told KCRA 3’s Denzen Cortez. The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services initially urged people to not touch, move or collect debris. Officials said the debris could contain hazardous materials, unstable containers or residue from burned chemicals. Officials later created a reporting system with which residents can identify locations where debris has been found. Bagley said the environmental team has set up a hotline for the community to schedule debris cleanup free of charge. The hotline number is 209-751-1888.For those who prefer to handle cleanup themselves, Fire Station 95 at 7151 Tracy Hills Drive is providing free medical gloves, bags and N95 masks. Officials recommend wearing long sleeves and pants while cleaning up the debris.Air quality concernsSan Joaquin County Public Health Services warned residents of potential health risks from the fire while it was still raging. Officials said respiratory irritants, toxic gases, carcinogens and “at least one neurotoxin” were present in the smoke and could impact communities nearby. The San Joaquin Valley Air District issued a separate warning saying the particulate matter and other pollutants can trigger asthma attacks, aggravate chronic bronchitis and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Residents impacted by smoke were told to keep windows and doors closed, use air filtration systems and keep pets indoors. The South San Joaquin County Fire Authority chief said air quality was being monitored at three smoke locations. Michael Kleeman, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, explained the potential dangers of the smoke."When it burns, it isn't just producing the same type of particle in the atmosphere; it's producing things that contain traces of metal and the byproducts of burning plastics and the byproducts of other things that are potentially toxic," Kleeman said.The deputy fire chief said on Monday, June 15, that "there's no reason to be concerned" anymore because of minimal irritants in the air. What is Medline? Medline was founded in 1966 by Jim and Jon Mills, and the company says it’s the largest provider of medical-surgical products, according to its website. The company recently celebrated its 60th anniversary. It is a distributor of about 335,000 healthcare products, including approximately 190,000 under the Medline brand and about 70,000 of those self-manufactured, according to the company. The company has 70 global distribution centers and 30 global manufacturing facilities. Medline operates other distribution centers in San Joaquin County in Manteca and Lathrop. The company also has facilities in Southern California. The company distributes medical supplies to major hospitals and health systems in Northern California, including Sutter Health, Kaweah Health, Enloe Health, Stanford Medicine, Carson Tahoe Health and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.Medline said on Saturday, June 13, that medical products previously distributed through the Tracy facility had already been reassigned and most of the order lines rerouted to other Medline centers in the region. The company also said regional staffing and transportation had been boosted since the fire. Bagley, the deputy fire chief with the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority, earlier said the fire could have national repercussions, though Medline said its supply chain is “designed with resiliency.”Sutter Health told KCRA 3 it did not anticipate broad impacts. UC Davis Health said it sent an email to all clinical employees "asking them to use supplies wisely, until we know if there are impacts, ensuring we have what we need for our patients."Who is investigating the Medline fire? The South San Joaquin Fire Authority said it is investigating the fire in coordination with the Office of the Fire Marshal. Cal/OHSA said it had an ongoing inspection that was opened on June 8 at the warehouse and that it will look into the June 11 fire as part of the ongoing inspection. Details on the earlier inspection were not released. Previous OSHA workplace safety complaintsA search of OSHA records noted a complaint against Medline that was filed on June 8. Another was filed on April 20. Eleven items show up on the OSHA database, including five accidents and five complaints, dating back to September 2022. Some of those are for other Medline locations in California.The biggest penalty is from an accident at the 1 million-square-foot Tracy facility from September 7, 2022.Details of the accident are not available on the website, however, three fines were issued in December of that year totaling more than $27,000.The company settled with OSHA to get a fine of just over $10,500.Investigators in that accident found violations found that included violations of operators of industrial trucks, lack of required foot protection for employees, and violations of standards keeping aisles clear and the walkways in good repair.Another accident at the Tracy warehouse, on Oct. 18, 2024, shows a serious violation that resulted in a fine of $7,650 which OSHA settled for $3,825.The investigators there found violations where industrial truck operators were moving at unsafe speeds.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
A massive fire in Tracy on June 11 destroyed a 1 million-square-foot medical supply distribution center, sent large plumes of thick, toxic smoke into the air for several days, and littered neighborhoods with debris.
As many as 120 fire crews battled the fire at Medline Industries in the 5700 block of Promontory Parkway when it was most active.
The fire broke out in an area with other warehouses like FedEx and Amazon. The majority of businesses remained in operation.
On Wednesday, June 17, the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority said it officially ended the incident and was transferring responsibility to Medline and an environmental team hired by the company to continue cleanup efforts. The company, Clean Harbors, will oversee the process moving forward.
Crews have used heavy equipment to pull down parts of the fire-damaged building
What caused the fire?
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
South San Joaquin County Fire Authority Chief Randall Bradley said the fire was believed to have started on the roof of the building. Crews responded around 1 p.m. Thursday and found “heavy fire” coming from the roof.
Bradley said sprinklers were not operating and there was no water pressure for fire hydrants at the facility. He added that the failure of the private water system “significantly impacted” crews battling the fire.
The sprinkler system was last tested in January. With the sprinklers not working, the large warehouse was “fully consumed” within 40 minutes.
The South San Joaquin Fire Authority said Medline hired a third-party contractor to do the sprinkler inspection in January.
Tracy Fire Deputy Chief Brian Bagley said the department believes the fire originated on the east end of the building, based on cellphone footage from early on in the incident.
"The environmentalist team is completely separate from the fire sprinkler and alarm company that there's been some concerns about, like who tested it and all of that kind of stuff," Bagley said. "It was tested by a licensed fire and sprinkler alarm company. And that testing was done in January. And I'm sure they're getting a lot of inquiries as well. Right now, our community risk reduction division and fire marshal and investigation team is looking into all of those records to make informed decisions moving forward."
KCRA 3 asked the fire authority and Medline who that third party was. Neither has provided an answer.
The fire authority said testing of the sprinkler systems is required at least once a year, along with major sprinkler tests every five years.
Videos from the fire
Many KCRA 3 viewers shared videos of the massive fire at the medical supply warehouse.
One of the videos obtained by KCRA 3 was recorded by someone inside the warehouse when the fire started showing flames at the top of a storage rack and sparks falling to the ground.
The person who shared the video did not want to be identified, but said they heard the fire alarm go off and did not see sprinklers activate.
Another anonymous viewer shared the video below near the fire:
Neighborhoods littered with debris
The fire scattered debris across neighborhoods and sparked spot fires across the city.
Pieces of debris were also found in parks, trails and roadways.
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Resident Kim DeFrancis told KCRA 3’s Anahita Jafary that the debris was “soft, light, crispy.”
Homeowners in the Tracy Hills neighborhood reported finding black, foam-like material covering yards, sidewalks and landscaping.
“It was pretty bad. It was covered from the street up to here,” resident Gilbert Coronado told KCRA 3’s Denzen Cortez.
The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services initially urged people to not touch, move or collect debris. Officials said the debris could contain hazardous materials, unstable containers or residue from burned chemicals.
Officials later created a reporting system with which residents can identify locations where debris has been found.
Bagley said the environmental team has set up a hotline for the community to schedule debris cleanup free of charge. The hotline number is 209-751-1888.
For those who prefer to handle cleanup themselves, Fire Station 95 at 7151 Tracy Hills Drive is providing free medical gloves, bags and N95 masks. Officials recommend wearing long sleeves and pants while cleaning up the debris.
Air quality concerns
San Joaquin County Public Health Services warned residents of potential health risks from the fire while it was still raging.
Officials said respiratory irritants, toxic gases, carcinogens and “at least one neurotoxin” were present in the smoke and could impact communities nearby.
The San Joaquin Valley Air District issued a separate warning saying the particulate matter and other pollutants can trigger asthma attacks, aggravate chronic bronchitis and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Residents impacted by smoke were told to keep windows and doors closed, use air filtration systems and keep pets indoors.
The South San Joaquin County Fire Authority chief said air quality was being monitored at three smoke locations.
Michael Kleeman, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, explained the potential dangers of the smoke.
"When it burns, it isn't just producing the same type of particle in the atmosphere; it's producing things that contain traces of metal and the byproducts of burning plastics and the byproducts of other things that are potentially toxic," Kleeman said.
The deputy fire chief said on Monday, June 15, that "there's no reason to be concerned" anymore because of minimal irritants in the air.
What is Medline?
Medline was founded in 1966 by Jim and Jon Mills, and the company says it’s the largest provider of medical-surgical products, according to its website.
The company recently celebrated its 60th anniversary. It is a distributor of about 335,000 healthcare products, including approximately 190,000 under the Medline brand and about 70,000 of those self-manufactured, according to the company.
The company has 70 global distribution centers and 30 global manufacturing facilities. Medline operates other distribution centers in San Joaquin County in Manteca and Lathrop. The company also has facilities in Southern California.
The company distributes medical supplies to major hospitals and health systems in Northern California, including Sutter Health, Kaweah Health, Enloe Health, Stanford Medicine, Carson Tahoe Health and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Medline said on Saturday, June 13, that medical products previously distributed through the Tracy facility had already been reassigned and most of the order lines rerouted to other Medline centers in the region. The company also said regional staffing and transportation had been boosted since the fire.
Bagley, the deputy fire chief with the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority, earlier said the fire could have national repercussions, though Medline said its supply chain is “designed with resiliency.”
Sutter Health told KCRA 3 it did not anticipate broad impacts.
UC Davis Health said it sent an email to all clinical employees "asking them to use supplies wisely, until we know if there are impacts, ensuring we have what we need for our patients."
Who is investigating the Medline fire?
The South San Joaquin Fire Authority said it is investigating the fire in coordination with the Office of the Fire Marshal.
Cal/OHSA said it had an ongoing inspection that was opened on June 8 at the warehouse and that it will look into the June 11 fire as part of the ongoing inspection.
Details on the earlier inspection were not released.
Previous OSHA workplace safety complaints
A search of OSHA records noted a complaint against Medline that was filed on June 8. Another was filed on April 20.
Eleven items show up on the OSHA database, including five accidents and five complaints, dating back to September 2022. Some of those are for other Medline locations in California.
The biggest penalty is from an accident at the 1 million-square-foot Tracy facility from September 7, 2022.
Details of the accident are not available on the website, however, three fines were issued in December of that year totaling more than $27,000.
The company settled with OSHA to get a fine of just over $10,500.
Investigators in that accident found violations found that included violations of operators of industrial trucks, lack of required foot protection for employees, and violations of standards keeping aisles clear and the walkways in good repair.
Another accident at the Tracy warehouse, on Oct. 18, 2024, shows a serious violation that resulted in a fine of $7,650 which OSHA settled for $3,825.
The investigators there found violations where industrial truck operators were moving at unsafe speeds.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel