The proper removal, collection, transportation, and process of dross
is many times overlooked in our industry. Here is a recent incident highlighting
the importance of education
(Local) County first responders rushed to contain what was
described as a trash truck fire at the intersection of (a road and a highway) on
Thursday.
A press release from the (local) County
Emergency Management Agency said dispatch received a call about the fire around
7:55 a.m. It started after a roll-off container fell from a transport vehicle
into the roadway.
EMA Director said the fire was especially
difficult to put out because the container was filled with aluminum dross, a
hazardous solid waste that is produced by melting aluminum. The dross was being
transported from (secondary aluminium remelt facility).
According to (an aluminium company), aluminum dross can create ammonia, hydrogen, phosphine, and methane gasses when introduced to water. “When it gets wet, it can emit toxic and flammable gasses,” EMA Director said. “In some cases, it can turn into an explosion hazard if it comes into contact with water while it’s on fire, so it’s really not safe to be in there pulling it apart at the moment. They’re letting it cool down.”
The vehicle’s driver dumped the roll-off
container after it caught fire to prevent the vehicle from catching fire as
well, but EMA Director said officials have not determined the cause of the fire
yet. He added that the roads in the area were temporarily closed or restricted,
and it took about an hour and a half to extinguish the flames.
“It’s water reactive, so that takes away the normal way we’d
take care of it,” he said. “We had to get the county highway department to
bring a load of sand out, and then we needed somebody to operate a loader who
was also trained in firefighter safety equipment so they could bring in a
self-contained breathing apparatus to breathe good air and not be inhaling all
the toxic smoke.”
Only one (local) County residence is in
close proximity to the scene, so responders visited the residence to explain
the situation and encourage the residents to take safety measures. EMA Director
said the hazardous gasses and vapors in the smoke are lighter than air, so they
will rise and dissipate. The aluminum dross, however, will take more time to
clean.
“It kind of turned into a molten metal and went down the hill,” he said. “We’re in contact with the (state) Department of Environmental Management about making sure all that bad dirt gets scraped up, and the (state) Department of
Transportation’s probably going to have to do some repaving where the molten metal melted to the road.”
EMA
Director said that State Police were on the scene until
later in the afternoon to ensure the hazardous material was safely removed. He
and the other first responders sought advisement from the (State) Department of
Environmental Management, and (another government agency) will help monitor the
cleanup.
(In lieu of listing each one, eleven
governmental agencies responded to the scene.) The state Department of
Environmental Management also provided additional off-scene support.
We are so very grateful and
thankful that the fire department were educated on how to safely extinguish a
dross fire. We have sadly reported on numerous fatalities involving fire department
personnel who were uneducated and unaware of the hazards. In each of those
previous fatal incidents fire department personnel incorrectly placed water onto
the dross. The resulting explosion in a metal container results in nearby fire
personnel being injured and some died.
We have been
asked many times to speak to local fire department personnel. One of the topics
we discussed is how to safely extinguish a dross fire. Has your workplace
educated the local fire department(s) on how to safely extinguish dross fires?
If not, we assume that the next question is a no too. Have you trained your
local fire department(s) about the hazards associated with your workplace?
The Light Metal
Age magazine and Aluminium Times magazine has published articles about the importance
and what topics to cover with fire departments.
Please comment.
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