"30 tons of mag and aluminium alloy ....exploded violently"

Metal fires are common in our industry. Here was an incident from earlier this year:

Magnesium-aluminum metal raw materials catch fire and emit strong light such as electric welding.

At about 10:30 am on morning during the week of March 15, 2020, a fire broke out in a light alloy material factory near Quantang, Changsha. Nearly 30 tons of magnesium and aluminum alloy stored in the warehouse exploded violently. After the incident, the Changsha fire department rushed to the scene and put out the fire together with relevant local staff for nearly 4 hours. Finally, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the fire was brought under control. Fortunately, there were not many workers in the factory at the time of the incident and they were evacuated promptly without causing casualties.

The reporter saw at the scene that the incident warehouse was located inside the fence beside the road. The toppled warehouse was located in the southwest corner. The 30 tons of magnesium-aluminum alloy buried in sand was piled into a small mountain bag, which was still making a sound of burning and explosion. More than smoke floated out. The scene has been cordoned off, a fire truck and several firefighters are still on standby. "At that time, the fire was very strong. It rushed several meters high, and instantly reflected half of the sky. It gave out a dazzling light like electric welding, and there were crackling explosions from time to time." A worker at a timber processing factory nearby introduced the reporter. The situation at the time of the incident.

According to the staff in the factory, a worker was cleaning the material inside before the fire broke out. When he opened the electric gate, a fire broke out, and then the staff evacuated the scene urgently. According to the person in charge of the plant, the fire was caused by a circuit fire. The fire was small at first, but in the fire extinguishing process, water-containing sand was used, which caused the burning of more than 30 tons of aluminum and magnesium materials stacked in the warehouse.

"After receiving the police, we dispatched 4 fire trucks urgently. Because there are a large amount of magnesium-aluminum metal raw materials in the factory, water guns and foam cannot be used to extinguish fires, and dry powder can not work quickly. We urgently called trucks and bulldozers locally, using sand Covering method to extinguish the fire. After the bulldozer knocked down the burning plant, it took 15 trucks of dry sand to control the fire.” According to the firefighters on the scene, this type of fire requires a professional metal powder fire extinguisher to effectively control it.

It is understood that there are a large number of private houses about 500 meters away from the factory, and the factory shares the power supply line with the houses. After the fire broke out, the staff of the electric power department rushed to the scene to remove the connected wires to prevent the fire from spreading.

We are ecstatic that no one was injured. A decade ago there would have been multiple injuries and fatalities including the firemen. But currently the local fire department were properly trained and followed that training to extinguish this metal fire.

Congratulations. We are very proud of you!