It takes seven fire departments to control the blaze.....

Furnace fires can be one of the most dangerous hazards in our industry in terms of extinguishing the flames. Here is a recent incident:

Fire departments from across a county in Southeast United States responded one night during the week of  January 7^th to a company, where smoke was seen pouring out of the building, the result of a fire that originated from a furnace within the aluminum slug production plant.

A sheriff’s deputy was driving by the plant around 10 p.m. — it is in close proximity to the Sheriff’s Office — when he saw smoke coming from the structure, and called it in. There were employees working when the fire started inside the building, where aluminum slugs are produced.

A spokesman of the County Fire Marshal’s Office, said his office will not conduct a formal investigation, and said local Fire Department was the primary agency that handled the matter. The local Fire Chief relayed information on the incident to City manager.

Reached Thursday, City manager said employees inside at the time, as well as firefighters who responded to the fire, were able to get out unharmed.

The call came in at 9:59 p.m. Wednesday and the local Fire Department was on the scene five minutes later.

“They started to attack the fire at that point,” said the city manager. “The fire was in the area of one of the furnaces they use to melt the aluminum product they make. There were no injuries and the employees were accounted for.”

Among those responding that night were fire departments from seven fire stations, along with County EMS, rescue personnel, the Fire Marshal’s Office, local Police Department and County Sheriff’s Office. Traffic was rerouted on both ends of the street while units were on scene.

The fire was able to be contained and units cleared the scene at 12:27 a.m. Thursday. While no superficial damage could be seen on the exterior of the 185,000-square-foot structure, the extent of the damage inside the plant was not immediately known.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is grateful that no one was injured in this incident. We do note that the fire was reported by a passerby. Which could have minimized the damage. Imagine if the fire went unchecked until it was too late. As in this case we have reported many incidents where the plant workers were unaware of a fire. Luckily for them and everyone involved the fire was noticed and addressed.

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