 Click here for the history of the Hydra-Matic The recent explosion and fire at Ford Motor Company's
giant Rouge complex has brought back memories of the Hydra-Matic fire of
1953, the worst industrial fire in American history up to that time and
still ranked as the worst in dollar loss in the history of the auto
industry. On August 12th of that year, a fire at the Hydra-Matic plant in
Livonia, Michigan, completely
 destroyed the facility, cost some $80 million in damages,
caused the injury or deaths of a score of workers, and resulted in the
loss of automobile production from five different manufacturers variously
estimated at from 100,000 to 300,000 units. The Livonia plant, which was operated by the Detroit
Transmission Division of GM, was nearly new and represented the
state-of-the-art in early post-World War II plant design. It was also the
only source of Hydra-Matic transmissions for General Motors car and truck
lines, as well as those of several other manufacturers. Pontiac,
Oldsmobile and Cadillac were the principle GM divisions that were
effected, but Lincoln, Hudson, Kaiser and Nash also used Hydra-Matic at
the time.
The fire started when some outside construction workers
using a oxyacetylene cutting torch ignited a conveyor dip pan that
contained a highly flammable liquid used as a rust inhibitor for
transmission parts. Attempts to put out the fire with hand-held
extinguishers were nearly successful — until the extinguishers ran dry.
Then, the fire spread with tremendous speed throughout the 1.5 million
square foot plant. Within minutes, the fire had engulfed the entire
building, including a small Ternstedt Division area (about 133,000 square
feet). Ternstedt manufactured interior hardware (window cranks, etc.) and
other small parts used by GM's automotive divisions.
Fire fighters from all over the Detroit area were called
to the scene, but there was little anyone could do once the fire went out
of control. By the time fire fighters arrived on the scene, the roof had
already partially collapsed making the building too dangerous to enter
(see the top photo). The fire finally burned itself out the following day
(see the bottom photo) leaving a scene reminiscent of Dresden or
Hiroshima.
Given the speed of the fire — it roared completely out of
control in fifteen or twenty minutes — it is a miracle that virtually all
of the 4,200 workers escaped with their lives. In fact, only fifteen
sustained serious injuries. In addition, three members of the Ternstedt
in-plant fire brigade were trapped and killed and a member of the Livonia
Fire Department suffered a fatal heart attack. Several days later, two
construction workers were electrocuted while clearing debris. So, the
final total was six dead and fifteen seriously injured — astonishingly
light considering the nature and scope of the catastrophe.
In the wake of the disaster, Cadillac and Olds quickly
converted to the Buick Dynaflow transmission, while Pontiac switched to
Chevrolet's Powerglide. Lincoln was able to switch over to Ford's in-house
automatic, which was similar to Powerglide, but the other manufacturers
had to do without.
One of the genuine crash programs in the history of the
auto industry was undertaken by GM to rebuild Hydra-Matic. A new plant,
the former Kaiser-Frazer factory at Willow Run (see photo below), was
quickly leased and later purchased outright, while Kaiser production was
transferred to Kaiser's recently acquired Willys-Overland plant in Toledo.
New equipment and new supplies for the resumption of Hydra-Matic
production all had to be put in place in record time. The first
Hydra-Matic unit was produced in a make-shift plant in Detroit in October
— a mere nine weeks to the day from the date of the fire — and GM
gallantly sent the first units to Hudson, Kaiser and Nash. The former
Kaiser plant was in full Hydra-Matic production by mid-December and
remains a key GM automatic transmission facility to this day.
The Hydra-Matic fire served as a wake-up call for the
entire American industrial community and fire standards were significantly
improved as a result. As the National Fire Protection
 Association noted: "The general awakening of industrial management to the
potentially disastrous results of fire on production was the one
beneficial effect of this disastrous fire. Viewing this destruction, many
industrial managements are recognizing the inter-relationship of
production records and fire safety, and are facing the well-known fact
that fire can reduce production records to zero and, in some cases, keep
them there. It is almost fortunate that this tremendous fire occurred in
the property of a company that is financially well-equipped to withstand
such a loss." R&D
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