BUS TERMINAL BLAZE CAUSED MY MYRIAD "OVERSIGHTS": CONTRACTOR, SUPERVISOR, CITY INSPECTORS SHARE BLAME

By Juan Montoya
The Fire Marshal Section of the City of Brownsville Fire Department report has issued its findings on the fire that caused more than $100,000 in damages to the B-Metro Intermodal Terminal and found that the accidental blaze was caused by the wrong electrical box placed outside the building's cupola for lighting.

It also found that the fire alarm panel was reg-tagged on December 2014, January 2015, and was red-tagged at the time of the fire and  has a current red tag today.

According to the Texas Fire Inspection Code, the red tag is placed on a system if it is impaired, faulty or inoperable. It has been two years since the fire alarm panel at the terminal has been red tagged, meaning that the fire-alarm panel system has been out of compliance with state fire inspection codes since December 2014.

Although the cause of the Nov. 26 fire has been determined to be "accidental" the conclusion makes it clear that the wrong electrical box was allowed to be placed outside of the cupola at the mercy of the elements that eventually led to the mishap.

In the report, Fire Marshal Daniel Villarreal states that "It is (my) opinion...the only source of possible ignition was electrical, because of the metal box instead of a weather-resistance box was used outside exposed to the elements it caused the box to rust letting rain in causing an electrical short close to the electrical box powering the outside lighting." (See graphic, click to enlarge).

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new Brownsville Intermodal Terminal was held on Dec. 2009. It was built, in part, with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funds. Mayor Tony Martinez and commissioner Rose Gowen were instrumental in requesting an additional $1.5 million from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation to cover unexpected cost overruns.

The completed $31.3 million project started operating in 2009.

The fire marshal's report raises more questions than it answers. Did the contractor, Carlos Marin's Ambiotec, know that the wrong material box had been placed by its electrical subcontractors outside the cupola at the mercy of the elements? Did the construction supervisor, Spawglass, know that the box was a potential fire hazard but installed it nonetheless?

And, most importantly, did the city inspectors give the contractor supervisor – and BUS Metro – the go-ahead to have the workers install the incorrect material electric box there?

A local businessman who sells electric components to manufacturers on both sides of the Rio Grande says that the fire should have never happened and its spread would have been prevented if the electrical box was correctly installed and connected to breakers which would have jumped and stopped the flow of electricity to the box.

"You don't put a metal electric box outside where it could get wet and cause a short circuit," he said. "Why were they allowed to do it?"

Although damages to the terminal's cupola is estimated at $100,300 to replace, we're sure this does not include labor costs to demolish the burned part, specialty construction materials and other incidentals that will surely raise the price past the quarter million dollar mark. And will the city's insurance carrier fork over the money now that it has been revealed that the contractor, the contract supervisor, and the city building inspectors allowed the unsafe condition to exist?

Some of the players have moved on since then. Marin's Ambiotec continues to monopolize city contracts. Rene Capsitran, formerly South Texas President of  Spawglass Contractors, has since left his company to form Noble Texas Builders and snare municipal and county construction jobs. His board of directors includes "talented" people like Eddie Lucio III as legal counsel and supporters like Ramiro Garza, and Ruben Gallegos Jr.