"The front-loader caught on fire inside the building,"

Safety hazards in the aluminium industry come in all shapes and sizes. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents where moving equipment has resulted in an injury or fatality. Luckily this incident resulted in neither. Here is the story. 

Firefighters from three departments extinguished a fire at RSI on Peerless Road in Bedford, Indiana in the The United States during the week of May 5, 2013 one afternoon.

Recycling System Inc.takes old scrap metal and melts it down into aluminum and magnesium ingots and sells them to other companies.

According to Marshall Township Volunteer Fire Department (MTVFD) Chief the fire was reported at 1:36 p.m.

When firefighters arrived they found a heavy-duty Caterpillar Front Loader on fire.

"The front-loader caught on fire inside the building," MTVFD Chief says. "Employees ran for a fire extinguisher and tried to put the fire out, but it just got away from them."

MTVFD Chief said because of the delay of calling 911 the machinery was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Firefighters from Marshall, Oolitic and Shawswick Volunteer Fire Departments responded.

All of the employees escaped the building and no one was injured.

"The loader was destroyed, but there was no damage to the building," MTVFD Chief says. "But there were toxic fumes. There are a lot of hazardous materials inside the building and it was filled with a strong ammonia odor. It was a concern. Firefighters wore air-packs the whole time."

MTVFD Chief says the employee operating the loader told firefighters he was moving salt and molten metal and was backing the loader when he noticed flames shooting from between the cab and motor area.

"We are speculating a hydraulic hose ruptured spraying onto the engine, causing the fire," MTVFD Chief says. "But we may never know for sure. There was just so much damage to the loader."

MTVFD Chief says after the blaze was extinguished, the building was ventilated and employees resumed work.

This incident could have been worse. One can speculate what would have occurred if the RSI personnel did not initially try to fight the fire. Nevertheless, congratulations to RSI Inc for having the necessary fire extinguishers to initially fight the fire. 

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has a some useful information on fire extinguishers which can be found here. In addition OSHA has information on the different classifications of fire extinguishers which can be viewed here.

The Aluminium Times Magazine had an article on the hazards associated with moving equipment. It be viewed by clicking on the picture below. It can be downloaded here. If for some reason you can not access the document, please place a comment on this post. The APSB will contact you and send you the document.