Huge Spruce Goose a fire-safety hazard

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McMINNVILLE, Ore. - The world's largest wooden airplane is causing some fire-safety problems in its new home.

The Spruce Goose is so big that water from the emergency fire sprinklers overhead in the Evergreen Aviation Museum would not hit the floor beneath it if activated.

So until the fire marshal signs off on a solution, city officials won't issue a temporary-occupancy permit.

Without the permit, museum president Bill Schaub said that the St. James School's popular Wine & Food Classic fund-raiser, planned for March 16-18, can't be held at the facility.

"The question right now is whether we can get a solution that is acceptable and appropriate that will be timely enough," he said.

The HK-1 Flying Boat was flown just once, by legendary aviator and recluse Howard Hughes, its designer. In September, the airplane was moved section by section into the new museum building at Evergreen Aviation.

The building is enormous - the foundation covers nearly 121,000 square feet - and the plane has a 320-foot wingspan.

Schaub said the wings shield the floor from the sprinklers above "like an umbrella."

With fire codes requiring sprinklers under mezzanines that extend as little as four feet over walking space, fire inspectors decided the museum would have to find a way to cover the area under the Spruce Goose's wings as well.

Schaub said the museum has hired fire-safety engineers to consider measures that might satisfy safety concerns.

Both Schaub and Thorson said that actually attaching sprinklers to the underside of the giant aircraft is unlikely.

The sprinkler snafu is the third to send museum builders back to the drawing board on the multimillion-dollar project.

In December 1999, builders realized the foundation extended over a swale. Moving it was a relatively simple matter but required a second annexation so a sliver of additional property could be brought in.

In May, city officials refused to grant the museum permission to erect a 30-foot sign in front of the building, which is itself visible for miles from the southeast.

Schaub said no official opening date has been set.

Museum officials want to wait until they have all permits in hand before deciding the details and time of a grand-opening ceremony, he said.