"The fire brigade was on site with a total of 45 firefighters..."

 

Our industry is filled with combustibles, from paper, wood, waste by products, etc. Our plants are filled with substrates that can either ignite or hold a flame. Here is a recent story of a combustible that ignited at an aluminium plant in Europe.

 

A fire broke out in a production hall at about 22:40 one night during the week of October 4, 2020 for an undisclosed reason. Aluminium chips stored in the hall burned on an area of approx. 10x5 m for further processing.

 

The fire was quickly brought under control by the use of extinguishing sand, which is kept in the company for aluminium fires. The smoke was limited to the immediate vicinity of factory and at no time posed a danger to the surrounding residents. No one was injured in the fire.

A fire station was set up, which continued to control the extinguished pile and then handed over the site to the operator.

The fire brigade was on site with a total of 45 firefighters from the three fire engines. The operation ended at 0:30 the following day.

 

We are ecstatic that no was injured in the aluminium plant nor the fire personnel who extinguished this fire. Please note, we do believe that this is at least the second fire involving aluminum chips at this aluminium plant (this year). In the previous incident the aluminium chips were oily which contributed to the flammability of the combustible. Companies can either learn from experience or by following the industry’s best practices toward safety. Regardless, the aluminium company and local fire department had the knowledge and the tools (extinguishing sand) to deal with this incident and for that we congratulate them. 

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