fire...."involved a broken hydraulic pipe"

 

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted numerous incidents involving flammable hydraulic fluids. Here is yet another incident highlighting this hidden hazard that is present in many plants.

Firefighters rushed to the scene on a highway in the United Kingdom one morning during the week of August 23, 2020.

The local Fire & Rescue Service sent one appliance to the highway to battle the blaze. They have not said what started it.

Crews used breathing apparatus and a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire and dealt with the incident within 25 minutes.

The fire service reports the vehicle was "100 per cent destroyed".

It came after firefighters attended (company name omitted) aluminium company responding to reports of a fire at about 9pm the night before.

One appliance was sent from the local Fire Station to the incident, which involved a broken hydraulic pipe.

The blaze had been put out by on-site sprinklers by the time firefighters arrived, who then used a thermal imaging camera to ensure the area was safe.

The day after the incident, a spokesperson from the local Fire Station said: "We were alerted to an automatic fire alarm at a local business.

"A small fire had taken place in their standard process which was fully controlled and extinguished by the sprinkler system.

"Crews isolated the sprinklers to limit the water damage and checked the area with the thermal camera before handing the area back over to the onsite engineers.”

We are thankful no one was injured in this incident. The aluminium company had sprinklers installed where the fire originated. If they did not this fire would have grown in size and damage.

In the introduction we mentioned that this is a hidden hazard. All too often when we ask plants if their hydraulic fluid is flammable. The response is typically “I don’t know, we never had a problem before.” We always respond with “that maybe the case, but that does not mean a problem will not arise in the future.” Flammable hydraulic fluids should only be used when there is not other alterative.

The Aluminium Times magazine had an article on this topic. It can be downloaded here.

 

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