Kind of amazing how fast and hot they burn. I think it is a chimney effect that makes it go so fast, and at least our old elevator was super dry.
It was more than 30 years ago that they burned our local elevator. The fire department was going to have a training session, and I think they probably got paid something for standing by while it burned. The elevator had not been used for a number of years and I think that most of the workings had been removed and recycled before the burn.
I would guess that your estimate of a half hour of burn time was similar to what happened at our old elevator. I don"t know just how tall it was, but I would guess about 80 to 100 feet. From the first smoke we saw until the tower collapsed was sure not very long. When the fire was at its peak, there were flames at least 20 feet out of the top.
As far as training goes, I think the fire department chiefs decided that if another elevator was seriously on fire, the only rational thing to do would be to let it burn and try to protect exposures, since there was no practical way to put it out. Maybe in an area with hydrants and LOTS of water something could be tried, but I don"t think there was much chance at all when all the water would have to be brought in by tankers.
After the building collapsed, the fire was allowed to burn itself out, which made it a lot easier to clean up the site for new development. I bet there were TONS of nails and spikes, but I don"t know if they tried to recover the steel or just hauled the ashes and whatever to a landfill. It got cleaned up quite nicely.
That elevator had been built and used to load grain cars on a siding of the local railroad. But like many other places, the railroad quit using that track and eventually the tracks were removed. By the 60"s grain was being hauled out of there in semis, but at some time after that the whole complex quit being used. Maybe the machinery wore out and/or most local farmers got their own storage systems on their land.
There are still several elevators around the area, but I don"t think any of the ones still in use are made of wood.
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