"it can turn into an explosion..."

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.