Boeing fire causes minimal damage at LB cargo plane plant

Boeing fire causes minimal damage at LB cargo plane plant An hour-long fire at Boeing's C-17 plant in Long Beach led to a full evacuation of the massive assembly facility and halted production of the giant military cargo plane on Wednesday.
   Fire units responded to the afternoon fire after smoke detectors inside the structure were triggered by an electrical fire in a small third floor storage room, Long Beach firefighter Chris Milburn told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
   'We bumped it up to a second-alarm after confirming there was an active fire, and given the size of the building and the number of employees,' Milburn explained.
   The fire was contained to one concrete-lined room, causing minimal damage, he said. The plant returned to normal operations by the end of the day.
   The Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) C-17 Globemaster III is a strategic airlifter manufactured by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Long Beach. Boeing is on contract to design, build, deliver and support 190 U.S. Air Force C-17s. In addition to the 160 C-17s now in service with the Air Force, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force operates four C-17s, and the Royal Australian Air Force in late 2006 took delivery of its first of four C-17s. Chicago-based Boeing and the Canadian government cemented a deal in early February for four C-17s. The Canadian C-17s are already factored into the C-17 production plan and will not extend the Long Beach production line beyond mid-2009, when the last C-17 is scheduled for delivery.