"In the morning, aluminum powder was burning...."

In our industry the hazard of aluminium powder fires is acknowledge. Sadly, it took a catastrophe that killed several hundred workers for some in our industry to acknowledge the seriousness of this hazard. Here is a recent incident involving this hazard.

On Saturday, June 19, 2021 a fire broke out at the (aluminium powder) plant in the workshop. As the portal (news media) was told at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in the (name omitted) region, the message about the fire on (address omitted) was received at 09:07. According to the telegram-channel, 4 people were evacuated. It is known that at 09:13 the fire was localized, at 09:15 open burning was liquidated, the pouring and dismantling of the burnt structures was completed at 09:54.

On an area of 10 sq.m. aluminum powder was burning at the industrial site, - they say in the department. - Nine pieces of equipment, 31 personnel were involved in extinguishing the fire. The fire was extinguished with primary fire extinguishing means

We are ecstatic that no one was injured in this incident. It is our belief that the company and the local fire department knew the hazard and how to properly and safely extinguish an aluminium powder fire. Fire fighters and aluminium workers typically survive fires if everyone is aware of the specific hazard and how to safely extinguish it. It is because of a lack of awareness and education that commonly result with injuries and fatalities.

We would be remiss if we did not comment on the four workers who evacuated safely from the workshop. We do not take it for granted or discount their actions. We are proud that they could safely evacuate the workshop when the fire occurred and they notified the local authorities to the fire. Great job workers.

The Aluminium Times magazine had several articles about this specific topic. The articles can be downloaded here.

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