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Cleveland, OH - Manufacturing Facility
Fire occurred in the middle of the day. A truck pulled into the dock and left it running with the lights on while being loaded. After about 20 min., dock workers noticed smoke. They ran outside and had the trucker pull away from the dock, and the fire erupted. Fire department arrived, but workers had been able to extinguish flames before damage spread to adjacent positions. | |
Jackson, TN -- Automotive Parts Supplier
Workers reported this fire broke out shortly after a trailer pulled away from the dock. Dock seal foam was likely smoldering for some time while trailer was in position with marker lights compressed into foam. | |
Milwaukee, WI - Aquatic Glass Company
Surveillance video indicates fire broke out moments after a truck pulled away from the dock after loading. Fire began in the header of one dock seal and quickly spread to adjacent docks. | |
Grants, NM -- Grocery Store
Fire broke out at single dock position. Unfamiliar with the risk of burning due to the buildup of heat from trailer marker lights, store managers initially expected arson. | |
Lavonia, GA - Plastics Company
The entire dock seal destroyed and the surrounding building was damaged. Trucking company confirmed that the trailer that caused the fire had the style of marker lights that produce high heat when compressed into dock seals. | |
Walcott, IA, Large Equipment Tire Mounting Company
Severe damage to multiple dock positions, building and trailers resulted from fire initiating in dock seal. | 
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Wallace, NC, Textile Mill
Dock workers smelled smoke; dock seal head pad ignited after trailer pulled out from dock. All eight dock seals at adjacent dock positions contained burn holes in head pads. | |
Wellington, OH, Auto Supplier
Several small fires have developed in head pads in recent months. Workers regularly smelled smoke after trailers pulled out from the dock and were able to extinguish the flames before more extensive damage occurred. | |
Paducha, KY, Food Store
This dock fire was the third the company had experienced in recent months. All dock seal headers are being replaced with heat-dissipating headers as a precaution against future fires. | |
Little Rock, AR, Food Store
Damage was contained to a single dock position after fire erupted in head pad from heat of trailer marker lights. | |
Waterloo, IA Industrial Pump Manufacturer
Fire started in head pad, resulted in loss dock usage until seal and building were repaired. | |
Clemmons, NJ, Food Company
Animals had been nesting in burn holes in dock seal head pads, creating hygiene issues. Company replaced head pads with heat-dissipating replacement headers that will not be susceptible to burn damage from trailer marker lights.
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Los Angeles, CA, Trading Company
Company has experienced just one dock seal fire to date, but burn holes in head pads of several other dock seals indicate the risk of additional fires remains. | |
Southeast Pennsylvania, Grocery Store
Burn holes in dock seal head pads have formed at several dry goods dock doors from trailers doing live-load drop-offs. This grocery chain has experienced at least two dock fires at stores in recent years.
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Houston, TX, Grocery Store
Several head pads were found to have burn holes in them, and one still had a melted trailer light stuck to it. Corporate officials are considering heat-dissipating headers for best-practice recommendation at all affiliate grocery stores. | |
Dallas, TX, Communications Company
Flames erupted in this dock seal after the heat of compressed trailer marker lights reached the level that caused auto-ignition of the insulating foam. | |
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Orangeburg County, SC, Grocery Distribution Center
These early warning signs of burning from trailer marker lights prompted the facility owner to install replacement seals with Firefighter heat-dissipating headers at all 39 dock positions to prevent more extensive burn damage and breakout of fires. | |
Providence, RI, Pharmacy Distribution Center
A dock seal header fire in this multi-tenant warehouse ignited from heat of trailer marker lights compressed into the seal. Flames were able to be extinguished before more substantial damage occurred. | |
Otay Mesa (South San Diego), CA- Produce distribution facility. A dock seal fire was investigated and confirmed to have started from hot liftgate trailer marker lights compressed into dock seal side pad. The fire consumed the side pad and spread to the head curtain before being extinguished.
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Glen Falls, NY - Paper Mill. A major fire on the loading dock broke out at 2:00 am at this paper mill, which employs 10% of the population of Glen Falls. The cause was determined to be hot trailer lights, which caught the head pad on fire. 3 dock positions were badly burned, both exterior and interior. One trailer was damaged so badly that it was put out of service. In addition, 2 of the docks needed new outside guide stripes, interior vehicle restraint control boxes, wire harnesses, interconnects, dock lights, and other items that were destroyed in the fire.
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Williamsport, PA - Industrial Cable Manufacturer. Management at this facility thought they were protected from loading dock fires because they had installed dock seals with fire retardant foam and fabric. Since fire retardant materials cannot prevent the heat buildup from marker lights, however, the fire was able to start and continue burning until the trailer was pulled away from the dock and the flames were extinguished by the fire retardant chemicals in the foam.
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Winchester, KY - Major grocery distributor. This facility had had 2 or 3 dock seal fire incidents in the last 3-4 years. This time, the truck and trailer had already left the premises before anyone realized that the foam seal head pad was smoldering. The fire then quickly ignited. The local fire department is located only 1/4 mile from the facility and responded quickly, putting out the fire before more extensive damage could occur.
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Orlando, FL - Warehouse & Distribution Center. This cold storage facility utilizes foam dock seals and typically services standard swing-out door trailers. Some liftgate trailers are also serviced, however, and the side marker lights of one of the liftgate trailers caused enough heat build-up to ignite the unprotected dock seal. Consequences included severe building damage, liftgate trailer damage, destruction of 4 dock seals with damage to 2 others, and damage to two trailers parked at adjacent dock positions at the time the seal erupted into flames.
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| Schenectady, NY - Grocery warehouse. A warehouse employee noticed a seal head pad on fire at the dock. Schenectady County fire department responded in time to save building from extensive damage. | |
| Washington, WV - Plastics company. A truck was parked against this head pad and when it drove away from the dock, a fire started. Personnel stopped the fire with the extinguishers they had on-site. | |
Canandaigua, NY - Plant makes center cores for rolled goods such as paper rolls. A truck was backed into the loading dock for approximately 90 minutes. When the driver pulled away from the dock, the head pad started on fire. Truck driver extinguished the flames.
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