"That is dangerous...."

A lack of education and awareness can result in needless in injuries and fatalities. On an annual basis countless fireman lose their lives responding to calls from our plants. The most common reason for their deaths is that they are unaware of our industry’s hazards and how to safely address each one.

For instance, metal dust/shaving/grinding/dross fires have killed more firemen than any other hazards that the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is aware of. Thankfully, this recent incident did not result in an injury nor fatality. Please read and learn what this volunteer fire brigade did to put out the flames.

Cement was used instead of water: the volunteer fire brigade in a town in the North Rhine-Westphalia state in Germany had to deploy early one morning during the week of May 17, 2020. The fire alarm system in the foundry company had triggered at around 2:30 a.m. Metal dust in a container had ignited in the hall due to a chemical reaction. Since metal fires take place at a temperature of around 1000 degrees Celsius, extinguishing with water is too risky - decomposition and the formation of hydrogen can occur. "That is dangerous," said the head of the local fire department in a town in the North Rhine-Westphalia state. He also emphasized the importance of the fire alarm systems after the assignment. “It is good that the facilities exist. When they trigger, it is not always just a false alarm.

No people were in the production hall during the fire. When the first forces of the local fire brigade arrived, they noticed smoke in the hall. They raised the alarm keyword on fire 4 and further alarmed forces - ultimately there were 30 firemen from two local stations. They found the source of the fire in the area of ​​the filter and suction system. The foundry personnel transported the container outdoors using a pallet truck and put it out in a safe place with foam, in order to then seal it airtight with dry cement and prevent it from igniting again. The danger was averted at around 4 a.m. and the mission ended.

We are glad no one was injured in this incident. The use of cement to smother the fire was an inventive approach. The editors of Aluminum Plant Safety Blog will add cement to the list of material (e.g., sand, bone ash, etc.) to extinguish a dust fire.

 The Aluminium Times Magazine had an article about dust/shavings fire. It can be downloaded here.

 

Please comment.