Part of the GM Advanced Design California Studio in Pasadena, California, a facility that had officially launched with much fanfare just last year and created a C9 Corvette Concept, was involved in a fire this week that has likely destroyed at least one priceless concept car and other design studies that the General Motors design team had been working on.
The Pasadena Fire Department was dispatched to the GM Advanced Design California Studio at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, October 22, in Pasadena. Between that initial call and containment at 7:22 pm, the fire escalated to a four-alarm fire that Pasadena City Chief Communications Officer, Lisa Derderian, said was a very rare occurrence and one of the largest structure fires in many years. Compounding issues were the presence of lithium-ion batteries and concept cars that required Hazardous Materials teams to join the firefighting efforts.
There were approximately 100 firefighters in total engaged to fight the blaze, and the cause remains under investigation. Derderian also confirmed that a MAYDAY call from a fire captain occurred inside the burning facility and there was several minutes of no communication, but he was rescued and said to not have suffered any injuries. There are also no reports on any GM Advanced Design Studio staff being injured, but those on site had to be evacuated.
For now, the campus is closed until investigators can determine the source of the fire. Initial reports from Pasadena Fire said that it was within a small footprint of the 150,000-square-foot campus, but water and smoke damage expanded beyond the fire damaged area. A GM spokesperson said that a single concept car had been lost, but nothing else besides the building was damaged or destroyed. A MotorTrend editor went to the design center the morning after the fire was contained, and no visible fire crews were on site. It appeared that the fire only burned one of the interior buildings at the facility.
Once the investigation is complete, overhaul and clean-up will take place and over the course of several days, depending on how much was damaged or destroyed. “We’ve been boasting about bringing new technology, jobs, and name recognition into our city,” said Derderian during our inquiry into the GM Design Studio fire, “we’re hoping they are able to get back in business in a timely manner.”
GM also got back to us with the following, “We’re grateful that all employees and first responders are safe and accounted for. The isolated fire was contained to a single design concept vehicle and did not spread to any other vehicles, design concepts, or the building itself. We thank the responding fire departments for their swift action in extinguishing the fire.” The GM spokesperson also mentioned that it would fully cooperate with authorities in the investigation and is assessing the next steps on restoring the facility back to working order “as soon as possible.”
The GM Advanced Design Studio California
The 150,000 square-feet facility located in Pasadena,