Preplanning the Big-Box Fire Response

One of the most dangerous misconceptions in big-box fire response is the assumption that a new facility, built to modern fire protection codes with sprinkler systems, fire alarms, and passive compartmentalization, can effectively protect itself.

The historical record tells a far grimmer story.

In August 2016, a fire at the Gap distribution warehouse in Fishkill, New York, reduced a 1.3-million-square-foot facility to rubble and demanded a mutual aid response from 23 different fire departments.

In March 2022, a Walmart warehouse fire in Plainfield, Indiana, consumed a 1.2-million-square-foot building, burned for days, and required 30 fire departments to bring it under control. In March 2024, a 634,812-square-foot warehouse in Alcoa, Tennessee — a newly opened facility with 16 miles of conveyor belts processing one million packages per day — caught fire. In June 2024, firefighters in Dayton, Ohio, battled a fire on the fifth floor of a big-box facility. Merrill and Dugan are unambiguous: sprinklers, alarms, and compartmentalization are essential, but none of these systems guarantees containment of a working big-box fire without adequate personnel, a reliable water supply, and integrated firefighter air replenishment systems.

Fire Response Preplanning Begins with a Seat at the Table

The single most important action in big-box fire preplanning is securing formal fire department representation in all planning, zoning, and permitting discussions before ground is broken. Once the building is standing, the department’s leverage to shape emergency infrastructure — from water supply and fire department connection placement to standpipe type and FARS installation — vanishes. Merrill and Dugan remind their readers that playing catch-up is never a sound fireground strategy.

This pre-planning imperative carries the greatest weight for the departments least prepared to manage a big-box fire: rural fire departments, volunteer fire departments, and small career departments whose everyday experience is residential fire response. A big-box fire in a rural fire department’s first-due area is not a larger version of a familiar challenge — it is an entirely different category of risk. Fire chiefs and fire marshals must educate municipal leaders, planning boards, and elected officials on what a big-box fire will demand in personnel, apparatus, water supply, mutual aid, and continuous breathable air. The Firefighter Air Coalition’s More Air, More Time message underscores this reality: without a reliable air supply, no fireground strategy can succeed.

Water Supply, Personnel, and Mutual Aid: Three Pillars of Big-Box Fire Preplanning

Every element of an effective big-box fire response rests on three questions that must be answered during pre-planning. First, water supply: is the facility served by a municipal main with adequate volume and pressure, a yard hydrant system, or a dead-end main incapable of sustaining the calculated fire flow? Merrill and Dugan cite a recent fire where the sprinkler supply line was fed by a dead-end main — a pumper tapping into a hydrant a few hundred feet back from the building inadvertently limited the sprinkler’s output. Second, personnel: how many interior-certified firefighters can the department deploy at 0200 on a Tuesday, and how many are physically prepared for prolonged operations inside a facility that may burn for days? Third, mutual aid: which neighboring departments will respond, what resources will they bring, and have they participated in joint tabletop exercises simulating a big-box fire at this specific facility? These questions cannot be answered during the incident. They must be resolved during pre-planning, with every stakeholder at the table.

Firefighter Air Replenishment Systems (FARS): The Air Crisis in Big-Box Fire Response

No variable in big-box fire response is more unforgiving than breathable air. Merrill and Dugan frame the critical question: on a good day with no heat or smoke, how far into the building can a firefighter get in full gear and SCBA? Now imagine that same space in heavy smoke with sprinklers discharging. A firefighter wearing standard SCBA can work for approximately 14 minutes on a single cylinder, and in a fulfillment center exceeding one million square feet, the travel distance from the nearest apparatus access point to the most remote interior location can consume a substantial portion of that supply before suppression begins. Firefighter air replenishment systems — permanently installed air standpipe networks with interior fill stations enabling firefighters to refill SCBA cylinders while under full respiration — represent the most reliable air management solution for these horizontal structures. Fire departments engaged in pre-planning have a narrow window to advocate for FARS before concrete is poured. If FARS is not installed, the department must develop a written air logistics plan detailing how spare cylinders will reach interior crews operating deep inside the building — a plan that must be tested, documented, and shared with all mutual aid partners. The Firefighter Air Coalition, through its More Air, More Time campaign, provides training resources and technical guidance to help departments evaluate and implement air replenishment strategies tailored to big-box fire response.

Training Access, Dispatch Integration, and All-Hazards Preplanning

Big-box fire response preplanning extends beyond fire suppression to encompass the full range of all-hazards emergencies: severe weather, power outages, flooding, hazardous materials incidents on adjacent highways, civil unrest, and active threat scenarios. Merrill and Dugan note the December 2021 tornado that destroyed an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, killing six people — a sobering reminder that these facilities face threats beyond fire.

Equally critical is the question of training access. Most big-box facilities operate 24/7, and management may resist fire department training requests that interfere with production schedules. Merrill and Dugan emphasize that the pre-planning phase is the only moment to negotiate a written training access agreement — one that guarantees the department meaningful opportunities to walk through, photograph, and conduct full-scale drills inside the facility before the certificate of occupancy is issued. The dispatch center must also be integrated, with CAD system updates, building-specific 911 question trees, and pre-loaded address notes ensuring dispatchers can provide responding units with accurate information when a big-box fire is reported.

The Time for Big-Box Fire Pre-Planning Is Now

The big-box construction boom shows no sign of slowing, and rural, volunteer, and small career fire departments remain the agencies most likely to face a million-square-foot fire in their first-due area without adequate pre-planning. Tom Merrill, Michael M. Dugan, and the Firefighter Air Coalition deliver one unified message: the decisions made — or avoided — before the building breaks ground will determine the outcome of the first big-box fire. Water supply, personnel, mutual aid, firefighter air, and training access are not negotiable after the fact.

Pre-plan for the big-box fire now — before the tones drop, before the smoke spreads, and before your crew is committed to a fight no one prepared for.

Resources:

Coming To a Town Near You, Fire Engineering Supplement, authored by Firefighter Air, 2025

Big-Box Preplanning Guide

Kitchen Table Resources