On Tuesday, November 1, 2011, at 6:49 p.m. the Lee’s Summit Fire Department responded to an automatic alarm at Dow Kokam, 2901 NE Hagan Road. As units were being dispatched, a maintenance person in the building called 911 to report a fire in electrical equipment and the incident was upgraded to a structure fire. An attempt was made by the occupant to extinguish the fire without success and he evacuated the building.
When the fire department arrived, smoke was coming from a large advanced lithium ion battery manufacturing facility. The only occupant in the building was outside.
Firefighters entered the smoke filled building to locate the fire in a battery testing area. Several sprinkler heads of the automatic fire sprinkler system had opened over the fire and contained it to the involved equipment before it could spread. Firefighters completed final extinguishment and the incident was reported under control by 7:10 p.m. After the electricity to the area was shut off, firefighters assisted with smoke removal from the building.
The fire originated in a large piece of battery testing equipment and spread to nearby equipment involved in the testing process. The fire caused extensive damage to the testing equipment and a portion of a wall. There was moderate smoke damage to the testing area with lesser amounts of damage throughout the building, and minor water damage to the area of the fire.
The cause of the fire was an undetermined type failure of the battery testing equipment.
###