“We were worried about the toxic nature of the smoke,”

Combustible metal powder or fines such as magnesium, titanium, magnesium, etc. are prevalent in our industry. On the rare occasion these combustible metals ignite. The importance of knowing how to respond and what to do can greatly reduce the risks to your employees and community. Here is a recent story:

A titanium fire kept firefighters busy for more than three hours one day during the week of January 19, 2014.

“We had to put a lot of salt on it,” by forklift and backhoe, said a Captain of the Fire Department, which helped the firefighters battle the blaze at an extrusion company at the BRT Extrusions in Ohio, USA.

Firefighters smothered the extremely hot fire using large bags of salt stockpiled by the company for such emergencies, he said.

Water wouldn’t have extinguished the blaze and would have reacted violently with the burning metal, potentially causing bright flashes and large explosions, the fire captain explained.

Fire officials told workers to evacuate the plant because of the unknown chemical composition of the smoke, Thomas said. “We were worried about the toxic nature of the smoke,” he added.

Fire Chief said nobody was allowed inside the building without breathing gear.

The blaze was reported at 9:35 a.m., and firefighters remained on the scene until 1:45 p.m., a local 911 supervisor said.

The County Hazmat Team and local Air Reserve Station firefighters went to the scene, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was notified of the blaze. No injuries were reported.

A nearby fire department sent a fire truck to a responding fire station as a backup during the blaze.

BRT makes and finishes aluminum products, according to the company web site. Company officials could not be reached for comment.

Congratulations to BRT Extrusions for a successful evacuation as well as previously acknowledging the hazard of titanium in their facility. BRT has in place salt bags in case a fire every occurred. One can only imagine what could have occurred if the salt was not stored onsite.

Congratulations to all of the fire departments who assisted in extinguishing this fire. As well as the fire departments who provided support to the fire departments who were on this call.

Portable fire extinguishers are classified to indicate their ability to handle specific classes and sizes of fires. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has information pertaining toward each type of fire extinguisher. It can be viewed here.

It is important that your emergency action plan detail fire extinguisher use and training. OSHA has a useful Powerpoint presentation on fire extinguish training. It can be downloaded here.

Here is a video on using a class d fire extinguisher. Please note this video shows extinguishing a magnesium fire. The same procedures would be used to fight a titanium fire. 

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