Crews Fought Fire For 6 1/2 Hours.... (video update)

Prior to emergencies occurring all companies should have an emergency management plan in place to deal with all the possible scenarios. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog hopes that plants use the incidents posted here as “what ifs”. What if this incident occurred at your facility, are you prepared? Have you run drill? Did your plant run a drill during the daylight hours? How would the drill be different if run during the night, or without power? Here is a recent story that occurred in the dark:

Firefighters battled a blaze at a building in a Huntington industrial park during the early Thursday morning on April 10, 2014 in Indiana in the United States.

Huntington City dispatchers got a call from an employee about the fire at about 3:30 a.m.

The factory belongs to Huntington Aluminum Inc. It collects aluminum and scrap and has 1200 degree furnaces in the back building to melt the metal down. However, it is not yet clear what started the fire. 

When crews arrived, the back of the building was fully involved and crews treated it as a defensive fight. They used a ladder truck to douse other areas of the building to prevent the fire from spreading.

There were 22 firefighters battling the blaze and they had it under control in about an hour and a half. The back of the building is a total loss but crews were successful in preventing the fire from spreading.

As of about 10 a.m., crews were working on putting out hot spots. Huntington Aluminum Inc. does not plan to open for business on Thursday but hopes to have everything back up and running as early as Friday. There have been no reported injuries.

The APSB applauds this aluminium company for successfully executing an emergency evacuation in the dark, during a large, growing fire with no injuries.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has a useful document to assist with developing and plan emergency evacuations. It can be found here.

This shows the remains of the building after the fire was extinguished.

The APSB hopes that the aluminium company will receive all the necessary support from the local, state, and federal authorities in its efforts to rebuild. 

Social media has changed our industry regarding how local incidents can become international incidents in a short time. In the past this incident would have made the local news, and local newspaper. Never would an incident (with no injuries nor fatalities) have the potential to become an international story. But, with social media incidents such as this can be viewed immediately worldwide. 

Below is a video that a bystander videotaped with their smart phone. The comments that are heard during the video are morally wrong and the speakers should be ashamed of themselves. The APSB decided to post this video so that the readers will understand how large a fire at an aluminium plant can be. 

This video was posted on Youtube. The APSB was pleased to see the first comment which was posted on Youtube. Which was: 'Why would u laugh about this? Seriously? Wtf is wrong with you people? These people are doing nothing different the. You a$$holes! Trying to make ends meet! Did you ever stop to think maybe they have families to? Grow up."

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