diff --git a/cellpack/autopack/DBHandler.py b/cellpack/autopack/DBHandler.py
index 2db8bd42a..86a8679a3 100644
--- a/cellpack/autopack/DBHandler.py
+++ b/cellpack/autopack/DBHandler.py
@@ -355,6 +355,7 @@ def should_write(self, db, grad_name):
 
 
 class DBHandler(object):
+    firebase_handler = None
     def __init__(self, db_handler):
         self.db = db_handler
         if isinstance(db_handler, FirebaseHandler):