Documenting June 21, 1982
This site documents the sheer scale of the June 21, 1982 warehouse fire: a blaze that consumed a 1.2 million square foot distribution center, roughly 27 acres under one roof, and became one of the most significant industrial fires in Pennsylvania history.
Time Since
Counter base time: June 21, 1982 at 12:00 AM Eastern.
You can change this in app.js if you have a better-sourced
start time.
Scale
Contemporary coverage described the building as 1.2 million square feet, approximately 1,000 by 1,200 feet, and about 27 acres under one roof. It supplied hundreds of stores across multiple states. When the fire outran suppression, the loss was not a single room or wing. It was the loss of an entire logistics complex.
Speed
Fire Engineering reported that a third alarm was requested within minutes, water supply problems quickly became decisive, and the fire moved about 1,200 feet in 18 minutes. The result was a defensive battle against a fire that had already outscaled the building’s protection systems.
Impact
The article placed the total loss at $113 million in 1982, including the building, equipment, and merchandise. This site exists to keep the scale of that event legible: not just that a warehouse burned, but that an enormous regional distribution hub was gutted.
Source Note
This page currently draws its scale language from Fire Engineering’s August 1, 1982 historical archive article, “Not Enough Water, So Fire Guts 1.2-Million-Square-Foot Warehouse.” Additional primary sources can be added later.
Project Scope
The homepage is designed for kmartfire.com. The counter
page also works at /counter/, and the same files can be
deployed in a second GitHub Pages repository for
howlonghasitbeensincethe.kmartfire.com.
This website is an independent historical project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Kmart or any related brand owner.