"It was pretty well destroyed when we arrived...."

When to fight a fire and when to flee a fire is a difficult decision. That decision should have been made before a fire occurs. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has a story where the workers in this story decided to fight the fire. Luckily for them no one was injured, but their delay in calling the fire department made a bad situation worse. Here is the story:

A fire late one night during the week of December 8, 2013 damaged a break room at secondary recycler in the Midwest United States. 

Firefighters from three companies battled the blaze. A forth fire department was also on the scene to assist firefighters.

According to the local volunteer fire department Assistant Chief, firefighters are not sure where exactly the fire started but it believe it was electrical in nature.

"The fire is currently under investigation," said Assistant Chief.

The fire destroyed the break room.

"It was pretty well destroyed when we arrived. The room is about 20 by 15 or 20 feet," Assistant Chief says. "It also spread to a bay area that had aluminum dross in it. It was putting off an awful lot of smoke."

Aluminum dross, which is about the consistency of rock salt, is used to clean aluminum.

Firefighters had the fire in the break room extinguished in about 30 minutes, but firefighters had to wait 30 to 45 minutes to hit the hot spots.

Firefighters had the fire in the break room extinguished in about 30 minutes, but firefighers had to wait about 30 to 45 minutes to hit the hot spots.

Firefighters had the fire in the break room extinguished in about 30 minutes, but firefighters had to wait about 30 to 45 minutes to hit the hot spots.

"They moved in some heavy equipment to remove the dross and then we were able to get in the bay area and extinguish the remaining hot spots," assistant chief said.

He continued saying the business was able to stay open and the night shift reported for work Sunday.

Update

One of the fire departments that responded to this fire had the following to say.

At 10:53 P.M. the department received a report of a structure fire at the company.  Upon arrival fire and smoke were visible.  Employees advised that the break room, which is approximately 500 ft. inside the main recycling mill, was on fire.  Suppression was initiated that the fire was brought under control very quickly.  Among other hazardous material on site was aluminum dross, a bin of which sat directly next to the break room.  The main hazard associated with the dross is that contact with water causes toxic gasses to be emitted.  Crews had to maintain breathing apparatus at all times to avoid breathing in the ammonia gas until the dross could be removed.  During investigation it was found that the employees noticed a small fire on the exterior of the break room and tried to extinguish it themselves for approximately 30 minutes before calling 911.  This delay allowed the fire to grow unchecked inside the break room until it was out of control.  The point of origin was found to be at the rear of the refrigerator near the floor level.

This particular plant had an earlier situation where another fire had occurred. As with the earlier incident the workers decided to fight the fire and  delay in asking for assistance by calling the fire department. Luckily no was injured in either incident. 

We have discussed the question "fight or flee" in previous incidents. This facility is unique in which it had two subsequent fires that the workers decided to fight and delayed in contacting the local fire department. 

The APSB would caution everyone on the employee(s) making the decision to fight a workplace fire. The decision to use fire extinguishers should not be left up to the employee(s) but must be spelled out in the company's emergency action plan. Does your emergency action plan address fire extinguisher use? If not why?

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has a Powerpoint presentation title "Incipient Stage Fire Extinguisher Education" which can be downloaded here.

Please comment.