Because fires are a fear of any business owner, I felt compelled to share this story.  This past Sunday morning I was at the airport traveling to a spa client in Chicago, where I was scheduled to facilitate two days of employee training.  While I was at the airport, I received an email from the spa owner client saying they had experience a “little fire,” but we would plan to go ahead with the training.

When I arrived at the spa, I was happy to find that it was indeed a small fire, and had been contained in the laundry room.  What had not been contained to just the laundry room was the water damage from the sprinkler system, which went off just like it’s supposed to.  Luckily, the sprinkler system in the entire 6000 square foot spa did not go off, but the whole front of the spa, including the large retail area, workshop/event space, laundry, staff-break area and offices, had soaked floors.  Unfortunately, the floors were made of beautiful mesquite wood, which, by the end of the day, began curling up at the edges.

This spa is located in a very large urban commercial building with offices and other retail tenants, which is both lucky and unlucky.  The building’s engineering staff alerted the owner at 2am to the incident, and provided resources to help plan the mitigation process.  However, as would be the case with most landlords, they exercised their right to decisions on what and how repairs will be made.  Although the floors (seemed to have) dried out nicely over the next two days, with constant blowers and dehumidifiers, the fear of potential mold contamination led the building and their insurance company to demand that the floors be ripped up and replaced. They also demanded further testing for mold potential, which involves ripping out cabinetry and cutting holes in walls throughout the spa.

This client could have reopened for business today, but will now be closed 2-3 weeks for all of these repairs (and to hurriedly source new flooring).  Luckily, the spa owner has Business Interruption Insurance, so everyone will be paid.  Unluckily, the spa just received recognition in the local urban magazine, and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.

As for the origin of the fire, it was, as is often the case, the laundry dryer.  It started through spontaneous combustion of sheets that were sitting in the dryer; a dryer that was TURNED OFF and with an OPEN DOOR.  Fortunately, the tenant and the building had already established best practices in this regard, and the spa was using only massage CRÈME, not oil, that was specifically approved by the landlord after a previous product was found to be leaving residue in the building ventilation system.  The fire department expert advised the spa owner that the combination of unfolded sheets, remaining product residue, and static electricity were enough to start the blaze.

The moral of the story is, please examine your protocols for handling laundry, and make sure that you NEVER leave unfolded laundry in the dryer when you leave for the day, even if the dryer is not running and the dryer door is open.  It doesn’t have to be the dawn of the Year of the Dragon for a small mistake to turn into a costly incident.