Columbia Fire Dept. set to meet with Johnson’s Products after fourth fire

The Columbia Fire Department will be meeting with the Johnson Products company after firefighters responded to a third fire in less than three months at the facility on Paris Road.

Monday’s blaze marked the fourth reported fire at Johnson Products. The previous incidents occurred on May 9, 2013, October 1, 2015 and December 9, 2015.

“Three of the four fires have been in one particular machine and then one fire has been in another machine,” said Assistant Chief Brad Fraizer.

Fraizer said the business owner is coming to town this week to discuss the fires.

“They’re going to be flying into Columbia and we’re going to talk with them about some steps to alleviate the problem,” he said.

Fraizer said there are couple of possible solutions the department is considering.

“Two things come to mind,” he said. “One is housekeeping, general housekeeping. It’s a messy business, a lot of paper products and dust created so we’re going to make sure they’re one top of that. The other thing is have an engineer evaluate those two machines.”

Fraizer said if an issue is found after the machines are evaluated, the city will establish aggressive deadlines for the company to get it resolved.

Despite four fires, Fraizer said the building itself doesn’t have any issues.

“The building does meet fire code requirements,” he said. “It’s a fully sprinkled building, smoke ejections and smoke evacuation systems are in place.”

Fraizer said the multiple fires are not a only a cost to the business, but also a cost to taxpayers for emergency runs.

ABC 17 News reached out to Johnson Products, but calls have not been returned.