"Fire chief assumes that the material spontaneously ignite(d)..."

 

The proper disposal, storage, and transportation of aluminium fines and shavings is hidden hazard to some companies. They fail to acknowledge that these fines and shavings mixed with lubricating oil can spontaneously ignite in the right circumstances. Here is a recent incident.

The four fire brigades of the (town name removed) community moved out on Thursday evening for an operation in the (local) industrial park. The alarm was raised around 7 p.m. because a container with aluminum shavings caught fire in the industrial park. The (local) fire brigade was at the scene first. The (local) military leader took over the command of operations, informed (name omitted), local fire chief of the (town name omitted) community. After the (town name omitted) fire brigade, nearby town name omitted, another nearby town name omitted and yet a 4^th nearby town name omitted arrived. The command service of the (local) district was also on site. After about 45 minutes, the emergency services from (two towns) were able to end the mission. The members of the (two other town) brigades monitored the fire. Fire chief assumes that the material will spontaneously ignite. The mission ended at 9 p.m.

Anything injury or death resulting in a hazard in our industry is horrific. But, we feel an injury or death to a fire department personnel is worse. Why? Because, these individuals run toward the hazard while everyone else (as required) runs away. But, if fire departments lack the education and knowledge on our hazards injuries and fatalities can result. One of the common reasons fire department personnel get injured is the extinguishing of fires from either dross or metal shavings. We will use this photo to educate our industry? Why? It is our opinion that the contents should have been dumped onto the ground. In other words the container should have been emptied. Too many fire department personnel have been injured or died when an explosion results from trying to extinguish a container fire. We use the example of a bomb when describing what could go horribly wrong. We have reported on incidents where an explosion occurs and the metal container blows out injuring and killing workers.

Lastly, we are ecstatic no one was injured or killed in this incident. Overtime reporting on injuries and deaths takes a toll on us. So, reporting on an incident involving no injuries or deaths is a nice respite.

Please comment.