A fire broke out.......when oil and grease....

Oil and grease are used in assortment of different types of machinery in our industry. On occasion the machinery may leak oil and grease. If not recognized and cleaned up immediately the leakage can accumulate. Some of these liquids maybe flammable resulting in a hazard that can ignite without warning. Here is a recent incident emphasizing the need to be aware leaks.

A fire broke out inside the Imperial Aluminum plant in the United States one night during the week of November 23, 2014 when oil and grease under a furnace became heated.

The fire was in a pit under a furnace in the plant. Local firefighters from responded at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

“When the grease caught fire, it was probably because of radiant heat,” Fire Chief said. “The fire was contained to the pit.”

The plant processes scrap aluminum. When the fire broke out the plant was functioning, but there were no injuries.

“The damage estimate hasn’t been released yet,” Fire Chief said. “They have to determine the (extent of) the equipment that was lost.”

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog commends Imperial Aluminum for evacuating the plant and contacting the local emergency management services. The APSB has posted numerous incidents where a delay in notifying the local emergency management services had disastrous results. The APSB hopes that the damage was minimal and production was not hinder at this aluminium plant.

Overtime some in our industry have forgotten of the hazards associated with pits under furnaces. Some of the largest explosions that have occurred in our industry when molten metal escaped its container and enter into a maintenance pit. Where it came into contact with bare concrete, steel, or stainless steel. All three substrates if left uncoated have been proven to generate molten metal explosions. It is important that the those substrates be coated with industry's best practices of applying Wise Chem coatings. Information can be found here.

As one engineer told the APSB a number of years ago. "There is a low probility of molten metal entering into the pit, but if it does there is a high probility of a catastrophe. One only has to look at our industry's history to know that explosions involving pits under furnaces have occurred."

Here is a recent article in Aluminium Insight about maintenance pits under furnaces. It can be found here.

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