The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted
incidents involving molten metal spills in the past. Those incidents fall into
two categories; either the plant was prepared or they were not. Here is a
recent story emphasizing the importance of always having in stock enough
firefighting material.
A call at the Kaiser Aluminum plant in
Spokane Valley (Washington, USA) early one morning last week led to hours of
effort by Spokane Valley Fire Department crews to put out a fire caused by
molten metal.
Crews were called to the plant in the 15000
block of East Euclid Avenue at 4:50 a.m. on Feb. 16 to find heavy fire under
one of the remelt furnaces, said fire department spokeswoman. Firefighters
could not use water to put out the fire because it “doesn’t mix well” with will
molten aluminum, she said.
Kaiser had 55-gallon drums of metal
extinguishing powder on hand, and crews dumped the powder on the fire, one
5-gallon bucket at a time. “We had a bucket brigade operation,” fire department
spokeswoman said.
They went through 15 of the 55-gallon drums
before bringing the fire under control around 7:30 a.m.
“It was quite an effort,” fire department
spokeswoman said.
We have posted incidents where a fire occurred and the aluminium
plant relied upon the local fire department to provide the extinguishing
agents. Unfortunately, many times local fire departments do not have enough
fire extinguishing material to sufficiently fight an aluminium fire. When that
occurs the danger to our workers and those fire fighters increases. That is why
we congratulate Kaiser Aluminium Trentwood on being prepared when this fire
broke out. One could imagine what could have occurred if this plant did not
have 825 gallons of fire extinguishing agent on hand. We commend this plant for
acknowledging the importance of have enough fire extinguishing agent on hand to
fight this fire.
On our plant tours we always count fire extinguishers. Many times
our plants do not have enough fire extinguishing agents on hand. While you walk
through your plant please count the fire extinguishing agents (e.g.,
extinguishers, buckets of sand/bone ash, etc.). Then look at the fire hazards
that you currently are mitigating. Then contact your local fire department(s)
and inquire on what fire extinguishing agents that they have to address your
plant’s fire hazards. Then ask this simple question: With both your material and
the local fire department’s stock of fire extinguishing agent, is there enough
to extinguish a fire at your plant?
Please comment.
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