Explosions heard across this town yesterday....

Being prepared for emergencies is a continuous recommendation at the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog. Here is a recent story that had a somewhat happy ending because the aluminium plant was prepared.

Four fire engines tackled a large factory fire on an industrial estate one afternoon during the week of November 18, 2018. Eye-witnesses reported three loud explosions before the blaze at an Industrial Estate in England. The blaze, which took place at a remelt facility, led to a nearby highway being closed and a number of buildings evacuated services dealt with the fire. No one was injured in the incident - with the fire eventually putting itself out. At its peak four fire crews were tackling the fire - with fire engines from four neighboring communities. The local Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said firefighters had been called to the site at around 2.41pm. She said: "Just before 2pm firefighters were called to reports of a fire at the factory.  "On arrival crews discovered that there had been a small explosion at an aluminium foundry, which was well alight, and that all persons accounted for.

Affected units at the site were evacuated and the gas and electricity supplies to the foundry were isolated. "The fire diminished and was contained to the foundry. "A water supply was set up and safety jets were put in place outside the foundry. "Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus had one tonne of sand ready to extinguish the fire. Dry powder extinguishers were al the fire went out by itself. "Firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to check for hotspots and made sure that the site was safe before leaving the incident site staff. "Fire crews were in attendance for more than three hours. Police also attended. "The highway was temporarily closed by the police as emergency services worked at the site.

We are glad no one was injured in this incident. Knowing what this company processes (primarily aluminium dross) it is fair to say that the explosions heard were molten metal explosions. The Aluminum Association states “Mixing water or other contaminants with molten aluminum can cause explosions. Explosions can also occur in the aluminum scrap re-melting process due to moisture and contamination in scrap.”

This incident could have been much worse if the remelt facility did not have firefighting supplies on hand. No doubt equipment and facility was damaged from the fire, but without the onsite firefighting supplies the fire could have consumed the entire facility. We only have to look at past stories posted on this blog to see what happens when aluminium plants assume that the local fire departments have enough firefighting supplies. What happens? In almost all incidents the plants burn down and there are injuries or fatalities. The fire department had 1 tonne of sand available to extinguish this fire. Without it the fire would have grown larger.

So the question to the reader is:

Does your plant have enough fire fighting supplies onsite when a fire breaks out? The Aluminium Times magazine had an article about the dangers of only keeping the minimal amount of fire extinguishing supplies to satisfy government regulations.It can be downloaded here.

Please comment.