"A wall of flames shuts down (an aluminium plant)"

Emergencies that affect our plants are sometimes outside our gates. In the past mothernature has thrown tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes, fires etc at our plants. How our plant personnel act when a natural disaster occurs will depend on their safety. Here is a recent story:

A wall of flame shut down Sullivan Road outside the Spokane Valley Honeywell plant and prompted a heavy response from the Spokane Valley Fire Department one afternoon in May 2017.

The fire consumed a long row of tall arborvitae bushes that lined the road. When crews arrived the bushes were a wall of flame and embers were blowing across the busy road, said fire department spokeswoman.

“We responded with a lot of units right away because of Honeywell and the types of hazardous chemicals they have,” she said.

A dumpster and a bus bench caught fire and several small storage sheds were damaged, but the fire did not spread to the Honeywell building. The bushes were directly under power lines and Avista Utilities was called to check for damage.

The fire was started by a lawn mower, fire department spokeswoman said. Someone was mowing the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the bushes when the mower became stuck. The heat from the mower started the fire, which rapidly spread in high winds.

Sullivan Road was closed in both directions for several hours while firefighters put out the fire and conducted an investigation.

We congratulate the fire department for arriving and putting out the fire before it could spread to this company’s buildings which include a casthouse.

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