Magnesium fire.... (updated)

Magnesium metal is used throughout our industry for alloying. Magnesium metal and its alloys are explosive hazards; they are highly flammable in their pure form when molten or in powder or ribbon form. Magnesium is capable of reducing water to highly flammable hydrogen gas. Burning or molten magnesium metal reacts violently with water. The importance of properly storing magnesium is highlighted in the following story:

A hazmat team has been called in response to a heavy fire reported at the Trialco metal smelting factory Monday, December 23, 2013 in the afternoon.

Firefighters were called to the 900 E. 14th Street location  in Chicago Heights, Illinois in the United States just before noon. As emergency crews battled the blaze, a quantity of magnesium caught fire, according to reports. A hazmat team has been called in to deal with the fallout.

Magnesium is well known as a metal that is very difficult to extinguish once it's lit. It burns at temperatures reaching 5,610 °F.

Congratulations to the Trialco employees for understanding that the fire required immediate assistance from the local fire department. As well as that Trialco employees performed an evacuations without any injuries.

Storage of magnesium is very important. Here are some tips for safe storage:

• Limit the size of piles of magnesium stored
• Piles should not exceed 20 feet in height
• Aisles should be at least 10 feet wide
• Do not store magnesium below grade

Here are some tips for outside storage of magnesium:

• Store on level and firm ground
• Stack to prevent toppling
• Keep the storage yard free of overgrowth of vegetation
• Ensure proper drainage is maintained
• Quantities of stored piles kept to a minimum
• No combustibles underneath ingots

The North American Die Casting Association (NADCA) has numerous great safety presentations. Their website can be viewed here. NADCA's excellent PowerPoint presentation titled "Fire Safety for Magnesium Processing & Finishing Operations" it can be downloaded here.

Midsouth Rescue Technologies has some useful information pertaining toward magnesium fires. It can be viewed here.

When a fire breaks out, do you have the appropriate Class D Fire Extinguisher? If not, get one immediately! 

Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) has information pertaining toward the different types of fire extinguishers. It can be viewed here:

UPDATE

The APSB just located the magazine "Popular Science" post titled "Let Burning Metals Lie, There's not much you can do to put a magnesium fire". The post talks about the science behind a magnesium fire. The informative post can be viewed here.

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