Very early on the morning of October 16, 1988, a private fire alarm monitoring service received a smoke detector alarm from a Mt. Prospect warehouse. The private service then reported the alarm to the Northwest Central Fire Dispatch, which in turn alerted the Mt. Prospect Fire Department. Upon arrival at the scene, the firefighters inspected the outside of the 49,000 square foot building. At first, the only indication of trouble was a sounding water motor gong. As they completed their walk around the building, they discovered water running out from under a door located at the southwest corner of the one-story structure. At about the same time, a light trail of smoke was observed from the roof area of the southwest corner of the building.