Is SpaceX Lying About Fire That Damaged Its Florida Facility?

Conflicting reports regarding the fire that damaged SpaceX’s facility in Florida on Monday sparked speculations that the company may be hiding something. Based on the estimated cost of the damage caused by the incident, it seems the facility was ravaged by a bigger fire that was not reported by the company.

Earlier this week, a fire broke out at SpaceX’s prototyping facility along Cidco Road in Cocoa, Florida. The facility houses the development of Starship, SpaceX’s upcoming fully-reusable second stage spacecraft.

The fire at the facility was confirmed by the Cocoa Fire Department and officials of the city. According to James Gleeson, the spokesperson for SpaceX, the fire happened at an isolated area in the facility and no one was injured during the incident.

“This afternoon, a small fire occurred at a SpaceX facility in Cocoa,” Gleeson told Florida Today. “The fire was contained to a sea van on site and extinguished thanks to the Cocoa Fire Department, which responded within minutes.”

“There were no injuries as a result of the fire, and the cause is under investigation,” he added.

Initially, it was estimated that the cost of the damage due to the fire was at $650,000. However, this figure was immediately reduced to about $50,000 to $100,000 after it was revealed that a previous fire also caused damages to the facility.

As pointed out by Florida Today reporter Emre Kelly via Twitter, SpaceX may have combined the cost of damages from the two fires to come up with the initial estimate. However, the reported noted that this still doesn’t explain when the other fire or incident occurred.

If a fire was big enough to cause damages upwards of $500,000, it must have been a major incident and the firefighters in the city would have most likely remembered responding to it. Furthermore, since it happened at the facility of a high-profile company, it should have been publicized and reported.

For now, it is not yet clear if another fire really happened at SpaceX’s facility. The company has not yet released a statement to address this matter or to clarify the varying estimated costs of the damage to their facility.