70 fire fighters and all available extinguishing powder.....

Extinguishing fires in ventilation ducts has been a nightmare for many aluminium plants. For those who have never experienced a ventilation duct fire here is a recent story emphasizing the importance of planning on what to do when a fire occurs:

Plant manager said on an afternoon in June 2019 “that the fire had been extinguished, the fire department was still monitoring the source of the fire for safety. (Aluminium Company) works with the authorities without restrictions and also carries out internal investigations."

The company's management also said: “The health of our employees and our (local) citizens are top priorities at (aluminium company). We have therefore put all systems in a safe state and are working intensively on the cause of the fire. ”

The aluminium plant manager told the editorial team about health hazards: "The air control measurements by the fire brigade did not result in any health hazards for the residents, the pollution released during the fire was significantly below a harmful concentration."

Firefighters deploy in the early morning

The local fire brigade was on site from 5.38 a.m. with a large contingent, the local guard was therefore manned by a (nearby town) fire brigade to ensure basic protection.

However, numerous units from several nearby cities were also in use because the measuring train was alerted at 7.08 a.m. Measurements should show whether pollutants have escaped.

This measurement train is made up of numerous special emergency vehicles, which in turn are stationed at various fire departments. According to initial knowledge, no pollutants were measured in the air, for example, the population was not warned or called to keep windows and doors closed.

Firefighters opened the pipeline at several points and pumped so much extinguishing powder into it that the supplies of the local fire brigade are now exhausted. At 6.42 a.m. city alarm was triggered in local. A total of around 70 emergency services were on site.

Nearby road closed - no injuries

Police officers cordoned off a number of surrounding streets. No one was injured despite the initially heavy smoke development. All employees had saved themselves outside in good time. The German Red Cross (DRK) was responsible for supplying the fire service.

Officials from the State Labor Inspectorate have started investigating the cause of the fire. The company is currently at rest in the affected factory building. It is still unclear when production will start again.

We are ecstatic that no one was injured in this fire. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents where duct fires have led to both injuries and fatalities. Thankfully, the aluminium company and neighboring fire departments worked together to extinguish this fire. If you note the one fire department ran out of class d fire extinguishing agent. That is why we always tell aluminium plants to make sure you stock enough fire supplies and never ever assume that the local fire departments will have enough class d fire extinguishing agent.

We hope the reader will take this question back to their maintenance department. "Do we have enough class d fire extinguishing agent in stock to fight a large fire at our aluminium plant?" You maybe surprised by the answer.

Please comment.