30 fire depts., 300 firefighters respond to molten metal explosion....

Educating local emergency management responders is very important. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has repeated called for each and every plant to reach out to all local fire departments, police etc. to make them aware of the hazards in their facilities. Educating fire departments can not only result in quicker response times, but in some cases save the lives of firemen and aluminium workers. We have posted incidents where firemen where unaware of the hazards in an aluminium plant and their actions resulted in making a bad situation worse. There have been several incidents where the actions of fireman (who were unaware of the hazards) caused explosions that killed firemen, workers, pedestrians. Here is a recent incident that occurred in Europe.

Shortly before 8 am an explosion occurred at an aluminium and magnesium die casting facility in Europe one day during the week of January 14, 2016. The explosion occurred in a casting machine. By evening, the major fire was brought under control.

A worker was seriously injured in the explosion and had to be flown by helicopter to the hospital afterwards according to the company With another worker and a firefighter were treated for smoke inhalation- both were treated in the outpatient clinic.

The explosion quickly resulted in a fire that spread to three halls in the factory, one of which has collapsed in the morning, a spokesman for the local firefighters explained that the fire got onto the roof of the building and was inside which required breathing apparatus for all firefighters.

In the afternoon another explosion occurred and more fire fighters were called to fight. The firefighters were concerned about the magnesium on fire and it could only be extinguished with a special foam.

Up to 30 fire departments - including that from the nearby region - are used and to the 300 firefighters , 17 Red Cross employees and the police . From a Red Cross medical tent was set up.

The fire is likely to run all night, according to the fire department spokesman. About the cause of the fire is not yet known

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that the injured workers and fire fighter recover fully from any physical and mental injuries that they may have suffered in these explosions and fire. We pray too that the worker who was injured from the initial explosion was wearing fire retardant clothing, safety glasses, etc. If not we fear that his burns may be extensive.

The firemen knew the hazards associated with aluminium and magnesium fires. We assume that is why this fire took over 12 hours to extinguish. The news article also stated that atleast four hours after the initial explosion another explosion occurred. We wonder if that could have been a compressed tank? It could have been water that came into contact with the magnesium fire. Regardless, we are so very thankful that this fire did not result in more injuries and or even fatalities.

  

Please Comment.