Industrial Fires & Explosions page 4

Industrial Fires & Explosions Page #4

This page was last updated on  05/06/2010

UPDATE RDF fire started in trash compactor 
By Rick Holland / Townsman Staff Thursday, March 13, 2003
The acrid odor of burning trash filled the air Monday afternoon, as a smoldering fire broke out inside a trash transfer haul warehouse at the town’s Recycling and Disposal Facility on Great Plain Avenue. The origin of the two-alarm blaze is under investigation, according to Wellesley Fire Department Chief Kevin Rooney. “The fire inspector is investigating, but it’ll be tough to determine what caused it,” said Rooney. Firefighters from Wellesley and an engine crew from Needham battled high winds and bitter cold to contain the blaze, which did not spread beyond the steel-framed two-story warehouse structure. According to Rooney, the fire may have ignited somewhere inside a large rust-colored trash compactor that is connected to the warehouse. Fire crews spent about three hours spraying sections of the compactor, including an area at the base of the machine where DPW trucks haul containers of compacted refuse away from the building. Eyewitnesses said the rubbish inside a DPW truck did catch fire momentarily, when the vehicle was backed up against the warehouse’s trash compactor. A DPW worker said that when some of the truck’s contents were seen to be burning, the driver pulled the vehicle away from the compactor and dumped all of the trash on the pavement so it could be sprayed with water from fire hoses. Rooney said the efforts of firefighters were complicated by the fact that they encountered three trucks and a backhoe inside the warehouse when they arrived. The trucks needed to be moved in order to provide direct access to the source of the fire, which was apparently buried under a mound of compacted trash. Adding to the challenge, it turned out that when firefighters brushed up against the DPW vehicles, they received electrical shocks. “We had to retreat from the inside of the building,” said Rooney, who described the shocks as a result of a water-soaked floor that firefighters were standing on and DPW trucks that he said were somehow “plugged in.” DPW Director Michael Pakstis acknowledged that by the late afternoon on Monday, the trucks were being stored inside the warehouse and connected in some fashion to an electrical current – a common practice, according to Pakstis, to help diesel vehicles start in cold weather. Rooney said that a Municipal Light Plant crew then disconnected power to the warehouse, and firefighters reentered the now dark, cavernous building, which was filled with heavy smoke emanating from a heap of burning trash. “We were just feeling our way around with hand lights,” said Rooney, who also described his crews’ use of “rescue ropes” – 50-foot segments of flame-resistant rope that firefighters attach to anything they can find on the way into a fire. “They lead the way out if you get separated from the hose line,” Rooney said of the rescue ropes. The work of a Wellesley Fire ladder crew also had Rooney anxious, since he was unsure about the ability of the warehouse roof to withstand the weight of firefighters. To reduce the smoke level inside the building, a hole had to be cut in the roof to provide a vent. “I was concerned about the ladder crew because I didn’t want them walking on that roof,” said Rooney. Fortunately, no one was injured among the handful of DPW employees who were on the grounds of the disposal facility when the blaze ignited. Among firefighters, Rooney said he was aware of only one person who needed to take some oxygen after being exposed to particularly heavy smoke. “The fire department did a great job,” said Pakstis, who also complimented the response of the MLP workers and members of his own department. “In my view, it doesn’t look that bad . . I think we were very lucky,” he added. Asked how the fire will impact residents, Pakstis said that most people who use the RDF would not notice any change in the facility’s operation. “I’m hard-pressed to think of any [RDF users] who will be [affected] by the fire,” said Pakstis. Residents were able to use the RDF when it opened yesterday after being closed on Tuesday. The majority of trash handled by the warehouse came from commercial users, but Pakstis said such users should also be “unaffected” by the fire. According to Pakstis, the warehouse building was covered under an insurance policy, but as of Wednesday morning adjusters had not yet been able to inspect the damage or provide a dollar estimate for repair. Ironically, Rooney said he recalled a very similar fire starting in the same warehouse about 20 years ago. “But that one happened at night,” said Rooney.

Chemicals factory on fire in the Cape 
March 13, 2003, 04:11 PM 
Three Airforce helicopters are on their way to Albertinia in the Western Cape to assist with a bush fire. The fire has jumped the N2 highway and is threatening the industrial area in the town. Two factories, one of them containing chemicals, are already on fire. No casualties have been reported. Firefighters from the district Municipality of Eden as well as the municipalities of Mosselbay and Langeberg are assisting in the firefighting effort.

Fire breaks out at Conestoga
By BETH SIEBER Sentinel reporter 3/13/03
BEAVERTOWN – Several Snyder County fire companies responded to an early morning blaze at Conestoga Wood Specialities in Beavertown. The 2:30 a.m. fire broke out in a dust collection building and was quickly extinguished before it could spread to the main factory, according to a news release from Conestoga Wood Specialities. Conestoga Wood Specialties praised the actions of the responding fire companies. “Due to the quick response of our local fire companies the situation was quickly brought under control,” stated the news release. “There were no injuries and all employees were evacuated safely from the factory as a precaution,” said Robin Long, human resource manager for Conestoga Wood Specialties. The cause of the fire and the extent of damages are still being assessed. According to the news release, the building that housed this dust collection system is being re-constructed and the business will be producing products within the next 12 hours and will be in full production within 24 hours. “We’re not up to full production yet but hope in the next 24 hours we will be,” said Long. Beavertown, Beaver springs and Middleburg fire companies and Medic 55 responded to the blaze, reported Snyder County Communications.

CORRECTED – ChevronTexaco shuts UK gasoline unit after fire
Reuters, 03.12.03, 1:07 PM ET
LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) – U.S. oil major ChevronTexaco (nyse: CVX – news – people) said on Wednesday it had shut down its 90,000 barrels per day catalytic cracking unit at the company’s refinery in Pembroke, south Wales, after a fire earlier in the day. A company spokesman said the fire occurred around 1300 GMT, affecting the gasoline-making plant in the 210,000 bpd Pembroke refinery. He said the fire was put out and the all-clear given two hours later. Two members of the refinery’s fire response team suffered minor injuries and were treated on site. The spokesman had no information on the refinery’s other units, although they were not directly affected by the fire. 

Blast at Snyder County Wood Plant
An explosion damaged a sawdust silo at the Conestoga Wood Plant in Beavertown early Wednesday morning. Newswatch 16 learned the explosion happened in the blower system of the silo shortly before 3:00 Wednesday morning. The blast knocked down two walls of the silo and caught some of the sawdust inside on fire. Firefighters made quick work of the flames. Crews are now cleaning up the mess. There’s sawdust all over. There’s no word on injuries or what triggered the explosion. 

Water plant fire stirs up foul odor in hagerstown
by MARLO BARNHART 
Smoke with a smell described by fire officials as “unsavory” blanketed parts of Hagerstown Tuesday night when a fire broke out in the pelletizer machinery at the Hagerstown Water Pollution Control plant off Frederick Street. The original call for the fire came in at 10 p.m. at Synagro, formerly known as Wheelabrator, which is the contracted operator of the city’s pellet plant at 1 Clean Water Circle. As firefighters arrived, more calls began coming in to Washington County Fire and Rescue Communications from residents reporting the smell of smoke in their homes. While some firefighters remained on Clean Water Circle, others were sent to calls on North Mulberry Street, South Cleveland Avenue and the 300 block of Radcliffe Avenue to check out the reports of smoke. All were cleared within minutes without finding any fires at those locations, fire officials said. The fire in the pelletizer was reported out at around 10:35 p.m. but units remained at the scene. In the city’s sewage treatment process, some of the waste goes to the landfill while some is turned into fertilizer at the city pellet plant. 

Firefighters contain Riviana blaze 
Bernard Chaillot March 12, 2003 
ABBEVILLE — A fire at the historic Riviana Rice Mill did minor damage Tuesday, but a blaze late Monday night destroyed a home in Maurice. Firefighters were called to the rice mill at 7:34 a.m. when rice chaff caught on fire in the hull plant, where rice is separated from chaff, Fire Chief Elvin Michaud said. He said the fire was under control within an hour. Michaud said there was no damage to the structure on Railroad Avenue. “A bearing went out on one of the conveyor belts, it overheated and caught the hulls on fire,” he said. There were no injuries. Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday, a home at 8011 Maurice Ave., or U.S. Route 167, was destroyed by a fire of undetermined origin. The residents of the rental house were able to escape without injury. Larry Catalon of Maurice, whose family owns the house, said Tuesday it was formerly Catalon Grocery Store, run by his late father for many years. “I fixed it up as a rent house over the past year,” he said. “I got a call from somebody last night asking me if I knew the old store was on fire. It’s right across the street from my house, so I looked out the window, and it was fully engulfed in flames. The people were standing out in the front yard.” The Maurice Volunteer Fire Department responded to the blaze. The house was a total loss. 

UPDATE Blast in China’s Guangdong Province suspected as chemical accident
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific – Political Publication date: 2003-03-12
Guangzhou, 11 March: An explosion Monday [10 March] afternoon at a defunct chemical plant in Nanhai District of Foshan City, south China’s Guangdong Province, has initially been ruled by experts from within the province and Beijing as an accident ignited by chemicals. The chemical blast, which took place at 5.20 p.m. [local time] Monday when a plot of vacant land was being levelled at the abandoned Nanchuan Chemical Plant of Danzao Town, Nanhai, has killed five people and injured 23 others, with one still in critical conditions, local sources said. Some residents living around the abandoned plant worry more explosions might be caused by any chemicals still underground. They are calling for government action to rid the spot of any hidden dangers. Authorities of Foshan City held a meeting Tuesday morning to pledge to carry out a comprehensive check-up of local chemical facilities, particularly those having been shut down, with products that may easily catch fire or explode. It is imperative to gain a clear idea of the distribution of dangerous chemical plants in the city and gradually move them out of densely-populated areas, the authorities concluded. 

Blaze Destroys Illinois Chemical Firm
MIKE WISER Courtesy of The Rockford Register Star
ROCKFORD — Billowing black, white and yellow smoke could be seen from miles across the city as firefighters battled a blaze at a southeast-side chemical company for more than nine hours Monday. The blaze started on a machine inside the east portion of Finish First Powder Coating, 2240 15th St., around 3:10 p.m., and the 22 employees were out safely when firefighters arrived moments later. But the blaze spread to the roof, causing serious problems for firefighters who hoped to contain the flames before they spread to the rest of the building. At least six fire companies and over 30 firefighters attacked the blaze with deck guns, ladder trucks and ground hoses to little avail. By 7:30 p.m., flames were shooting out the far west end of the building, an area that three hours before District Fire Chief Brad Larson said he hoped to save. “We thought we just about had it out, but it got into a concealed ceiling area and it started running through there,” Larson said. Firefighters, who were still on the scene dealing with “hot spots” early this morning, said the building’s sprinkler system apparently did not function. The building was a total loss. Damage was estimated between $3.5 million and $4 million. Finish First plant manager Tom Fannan said the company makes a plastic coating or sealant used to protect metal products, like picture frames, and keep them shiny. “It’s not highly flammable itself,” Fannan said. “When it’s put near heat, it melts into a glob.” Fire officials said several small propane tanks inside the building exploded. Larson said fumes coming off the chemical compounds shouldn’t have been any more poisonous than regular smoke. “We looked at their (chemical) sheets and they didn’t look that detrimental,” he said. “Most of it is just the normal combustibles of the fire.” Smoke from the fire attracted a sizable crowd of onlookers, although the frigid weather forced many people to keep their stays short. “We’re first-time fire chasers,” said 22-year-old Rob McGrew, who stood next to his camcorder-holding friend Phil Wall, 23, both of Machesney Park. “We saw it all the way from Forest Hills Road and figured, hey, we’re not doing anything else, why not?” 

Burton marble plant fire sends 40 firefighters to hospital
(Burton-AP) March 11, 2003 – The State Law Enforcement Division and a federal investigators are searching for the cause of a blaze at a marble manufacturing plant in Beaufort County that sent more than 40 firefighters to the hospital. Burton Fire Chief Harry Rountree says chemicals at Athena Marble made Monday’s fire hotter than normal and the fumes and smoke more dangerous. All but two firefighters were treated and released from the hospital the same day. None of the injuries was life-threatening, Rountree said. Beaufort Fire Department spokesman Dan Byrne says six firefighters were treated for burns and two were admitted to the hospital. Byrne says firefighters were getting burns through their bunker gear. The fire destroyed the chemical processing area, office space and part of a storage area. 

Factory Fire
Nichole Vrsansky 
A factory fire on Rockford’s southeast side destroys the entire building and disrupts traffic for about four hours. It’s taken several fire companies to battle the blaze at the Finish First powder coating company on 15th Street and 23rd Avenue. The Rockford Fire Department got the call at 3 o’clock this afternoon and they’ve been battling the flames ever since. Rockford Fire Department District Chief Brad Larson says he’s seen a lot of fires in his career, but this one is unique. “I’ve never had one move this fast and I’ve been on the job 25 years,” Larson said. Fire fighters say all the employees in the building at the time were able to escape safely. But, they say, the structure itself is beyond rescue. “We thought we were going to be able to save the east side of the building but it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen,” said Chief Larson. Early reports say the fire started above one the ceiling furnaces near a processing station in the plant. “The ceiling is the part that’s really giving us problems,” said Larson. Smoke from the blaze could be seen from miles away and that attracted several onlookers. “We saw it from Wal-Mart in Loves Park and we still had to do some shopping out this way so we came by to check it out. But, yeah, we saw it from Loves Park,” said Claude Files of Rockford. “We saw it on the news and thought we’d come out and check it out. It seemed pretty exciting, nothing ever really happens around here,” said Robert McGrew of Rockford. Fire fighters say it’s likely they’ll be battling the blaze until the early morning hours. Fire officials say there were no toxic chemicals in the building and they do not believe anyone should be concerned about the smoke causing a health risk.

 

UPDATE DEATH TOLL FROM KENTUCKY INSULATION PLANT EXPLOSION NOW AT SIX 
The death of another Kentucky plant worker brings the toll from an explosion last month to six. The University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington says the man’s death Friday made him the second victim in two days to die from severe burns. Three others remain in critical condition, including two at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. The victims were injured February 20th in an explosion and fire at a manufacturing plant in Corbin. Federal investigators have been testing flammable dust found in the CTA Acoustics plant, to determine whether it may have triggered the explosion. 

Two fires at UMass power plant shut down boilers
By KAY MORAN, Staff Writer 
Monday, March 10, 2003 — AMHERST – One coal-fired boiler in the University of Massachusetts power plant has been shut down and two others placed on standby while the cause of two fires there in two days is investigated. Gas-fired boilers are still operating in the plant, which supplies heat and hot water to the entire campus. “Everyone has heat,” Barbara Pitoniak of the UMass News Office said today. Like the larger blaze Friday afternoon, Sunday’s fire, reported at 6:09 p.m., was in the plant’s bag house. This is where hoppers and bags filter out ash before the coal-fired boilers’ exhaust gases are emitted into the atmosphere. The bag house will be out of use for three days during the investigation, Pitoniak said. A power plant engineer was taken by Amherst Fire Department ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton Sunday evening to be treated for respiratory problems due to the smoke. Neither Pitoniak nor Amherst Fire Chief Keith Hoyle knew his condition this morning. On both Friday and Sunday, doors on one or more of the hoppers in the bag house apparently blew open, sending hot ash to the building’s floor, said Hoyle. On Friday the sparks ignited boxes of new bags being stored there, despite a fire-resistant blanket covering them. In turn, electrical wiring on the second floor was ignited. A fire department press release said that there was a “several-minute” delay in reporting the 2:30 p.m. fire because of miscommunications on campus. “However, that delay did not significantly affect the outcome of the fire,” it stated. Hoyle gave an initial damage estimate of $40,000. The hoppers had been cleaned shortly before Sunday’s incident, said John Hannum, acting officer of a crew that responded to both incidents. All that burned was the remaining coal ash that spilled from the hoppers, covering most of the floor. “It’s nasty, nasty black stuff,” Hannum said. “It just permeated all our equipment.” Some gear that may have been ruined by exposure to both fires, Hoyle said. Staff writer Kim Ashton contributed to this report.

Five dead, 23 hurt in China plant explosion
10 Mar 2003 17:58
BEIJING, March 11 (Reuters) – Five people were killed and 23 hurt when an explosion ripped through a chemical factory in China’s southern Guangdong province, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. The blast, which was said to be accidental, occurred on Monday afternoon at the Nanchuan Chemical Plant in the city of Nanhai and left a pit some 60 metres (200 ft) in diameter and about four metres (13 ft) deep. Of the injured, only one was still being treated in hospital, the agency quoted local sources as saying. The explosion was under investigation. Industrial accidents are relatively common in China, particularly in the mining sector in which about 7,000 people were killed last year. 

Fire near UMass power plant
By KAY J. MORAN and CHERYL B. WILSON, Staff Writers 
Saturday, March 8, 2003 — AMHERST – A smoky fire at the “bag house” of the Power Plant at the University of Massachusetts was quickly extinguished by Amherst firefighters on Friday afternoon. Workers in nearby Chenoweth Laboratory noticed black smoke billowing from the building on Campus Center Way and pulled a fire alarm about 2:35 p.m. The Amherst Fire Department responded with four pumpers, an aerial ladder, an ambulance and 35 firefighters. The blaze erupted in the “bag house,” which holds 22-foot-long bags used to filter ash from the coal-fired power plant before the effluent is exhausted through the smokestacks. The power plant supplies heat and hot water to the entire campus. The smoky, smelly blaze was confined to the first and second floors of the bag house. Amherst Fire Chief Keith Hoyle reported that after the fire was under control, UMass engineers feared the fire had extended into the main duct leading into the power plant. Firefighters opened up unexposed ductwork but found no further fire. Thick black smoke emitting from the smokestack occurred during the time effluent was bypassed around the bag filters so the firefighters could work. There were no civilian or firefighter injuries, Hoyle said. The Granby Fire Department ambulance answered a medical call in Hadley under the mutual aid agreement at the beginning of the fire. The main damage was to many cartons of new bags and to the electrical wiring on the second floor, Hoyle reported. No cost estimate was available Friday night. UMass police redirected traffic from the nearby parking garage along Natural Resources Road because the normal route on Campus Center Way was blocked by fire department equipment. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation by the state fire marshall’s office because the fire occurred on state property. The Amherst Fire Department, the UMass police and the Environmental Health and Safety office at UMass are also investigating. 

Digboi fire under control
Guwahati, March 9
The fire in one of the petrol storage tanks of IOC’s Assam Oil Division, caused by explosions triggered by the ULFA at Digboi in Tinsukia district yesterday, was brought under control this evening. Tinsukia Deputy Commissioner B.N. Das told PTI that the fire in 5250 KL tank was almost doused. Only 10 to 15 per cent of the tank was still smouldering, he said. The flames were concentrated at the lower part of the tank and the petrol was expected to burn out by midnight. The loss caused by the fire was estimated to be around Rs 13.5 crore, IOC sources said. A red alert has been sounded with a massive combing operation launched in the area to nab the culprits but no arrests have been made so far. Senior police officials, including the Inspector-General (Operations), are camping in the area and a high level meeting of civil, police, army, paramilitary forces and refinery officials was held today to review the situation and step up security and vigilance in the two adjoining districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh where ULFA had struck yesterday. An internal inquiry into the fire has been ordered and the report was to be submitted by March 10. Forty families evacuated from the area yesterday were returning to their houses today, the sources added. Eighty fire tenders from Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Sibsagar along with extra foam sent from Guwahati, battled to control the blaze. Petroleum-finished products from other tanks have been drained out and shifted elsewhere as a precautionary measure, the sources said. Operations in the refinery continued as there was no fear of the fire to spread to the installations as the tank was more than a kilometre away from the refinery. Indian Oil Limited, whose gas pipeline was blasted by the ULFA at Kathalguri in Duliajan district, has also stepped up security at its installations following intelligence reports that the outfit had plans to abduct Russian officials engaged in a survey for hydrocarbons exploration. Additional reinforcements of the Assam armed police battalion has been posted in the area. PTI

$1m fire damage to timber plant
By SUE BAILEY 10mar03
A FIRE at a Tasmanian timber plant early yesterday caused more than $1 million damage — but the bill would have been closer to $6.5 million but for the efforts of firefighters. George Town Fire Brigade chief Andrew Taylor said the fire at the Forest Enterprises timber processing plant at Bell Bay was particularly difficult to control. The brigade was alerted to the blaze by a passer-by about 12.40am. It is believed the cause of the fire was accidental and it may have been burning unnoticed for several hours. “It was fairly well advanced when we got there with the chipping plant and conveyor system well alight and there were several smaller spot fires burning across a large expanse of the adjacent grounds that had pine bark and buildings,” Mr Taylor said. “The conditions were horrific. “It was so windy, it was blowing about 40km/h, there was smoke like you wouldn’t believe and the fire was only 200m from the main sawmill and very close to a big supply of logs.” Mr Taylor said the 15 firefighters also were hampered by a lack of accessible fire hydrants and large amounts of wood waste. “Considering the appalling conditions and the area of the fire, the crews worked extremely well to contain the fire and minimise the damage,” he said. “We believe the damage could be more than $1 million but the value of the property we saved is about $6.5 million and about $250,000 worth of logs.” Despite the fire it will be business as usual at the plant tomorrow. Forest Enterprises production manager Steve Curran said work would be found for the plant’s 25 workers. “It will cost about $1.5 million to replace the chipping plant but we’re not sure how much needs replacing and if anything can be salvaged,” Mr Curran said. “The fire was only 200 yards from our main sawmill and we had 5000 tonnes of radiata pine logs nearby so we’re pleased they were saved.” Firefighters had the fire under control by 2am but stayed at the scene mopping up for several hours.

Factory explosion kills six
09mar03
SIX people were killed and two others injured in a powerful explosion at a flour bleaching plant in eastern China, an official have said. The blast occurred yesterday afternoon at a workshop at the Maidebao Food Additive Company in suburban Changzhou, a city in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, said a Changzhou government official who refused to give his name. The official said the factory was a small, privately owned company. The cause of the explosion was unknown but under investigation, he said. The state-owned Beijing Youth Daily said the explosion obliterated the workshop, flattening 10 single-story houses nearby. The force of the blast blew equipment from the factory into nearby fields, the report said. A fire set off by the blast was extinguished, and officials were organisng rescue and cleanup operations, it said. The newspaper said an explosion had occurred in 1998 at the same factory. It gave no details. It was unclear whether the blast was due to poor safety standards – a common problem at China’s many small privately run factories – or a criminal act. Personal firearms are prohibited in China and violent local business disagreements often involve explosives. 

Small fire evacuates Stambaugh Metal Inc.; Fire in dust collection system causes about $5,000 in damages.
By ERIN NEGLEY Evening Sun Reporter 
Friday, March 07, 2003 – Employees helped extinguish a small fire that evacuated Stambaugh Metal Inc. Thursday evening. The fire started in a dust collection system and ignited a dust bin and several filters, said Hanover fire commissioner James Roth. He estimated damage at about $5,000. Ten employees were working at the company, polishing metal parts for Harley-Davidson motorcycles when the fire broke out at 6:47 p.m. Polisher John Moore was cleaning the main room of the High Street facility when he saw fire in a metal dust bin. He and three other employees doused the fire with extinguishers before Hanover firefighters arrived and evacuated the plant. Firefighters found light smoke throughout the building and the fire contained in the dust bin, Roth said. A dry chemical extinguisher within the dust collector did not put out the fire, but it did trigger the fire alarm, plant manager Ivan Goss said. Firefighters extinguished the fire by 7:20 p.m., Roth said. The dust collector vacuums dust away from the stations where workers polish the parts, Goss said. It’s easy for the system to suck up a spark too, which is probably what happened Thursday night, Roth said. He ruled the fire was accidental. “This happens in all these types of shops like this,” Roth said. Goss said the workers would clean up the room Thursday night so they could continue polishing luggage racks and engine guards. 

Zero Mountain Blaze More Smoke Than Fire; Plant manager says undetermined amount of frozen poultry damaged 
By Kirby Sanders The Morning News/NWAonline.net 
SPRINGDALE — Where there’s smoke there may be fire, but a lot of smoke didn’t necessarily equal a lot of fire at the Zero Mountain Cold Storage Warehouse in Johnson, according to the plant manager. Were it not for smoke, says General Manager Dale Lowrimore, damage at the plant from a Monday night fire “was really restricted to a pretty small area.” Lowrimore also said investigators and inspectors have evacuated the remaining smoke from the freezer area and are trying to determine how much frozen poultry may have been damaged. Lowrimore denied reports that the fire burned 1 million pounds of frozen turkey. “I don’t where that million pounds of product came from,” Lowrimore said. “I don’t even know exactly how much is in that freezer. The fire actually affected a pretty small area — what we have to figure out is how much damage the smoke may have done.” Johnson Fire Chief Matt Mills said on Wednesday that the fire was restricted to a 7,000-square-foot freezer containing 500 pallets of frozen turkey, “but unti we get our investigators in there, we don’t know for sure how much of that area was actually involved.” Lowrimore said the fire burned more cardboard boxes than anything else. “People wonder ‘how can frozen products burn?'” Lowrimore said. “Well, what everybody stores in is cardboard boxes. Most everything inside the freezers is cardboard or wood or plastic and when that stuff gets to burning, it can thaw some product — but mainly what burned was boxes.” Washington County Fire Marshal John Jenkins is investigating the cause of the fire. Lowrimore said Wednesday that the cause of the fire has not been determined. Lowrimore also said the freezers themselves were not functionally damaged in the fire. “We’ll have USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and QA (Quality Assurance) people from our client companies out to test and inspect the remaining product and see what of it has been damaged,” Lowrimore said. “We won’t realistically know what the damage is for several days at least.” Mills agreed that the cause of the fire did not appear to be electrical, given that the freezers were and are functional. Lowrimore said that, while the large freezer area is functional, it is not fully usable. He estimated that the company now is running at between 50 percent and 60 percent of capacity until the effected area has been cleaned up and inspected. The fire was discovered in the larger of two caves transformed from a former limestone mine to serve freezers. The larger of the two caves, part of which was involved in the fire, contains seven freezer areas while the smaller, unaffected cave contains three freezer areas. Zero Mountain has operated the facility since 1955. Overall, the plant can store up to about 25 million pounds of frozen food. It is used mainly for storage of frozen chicken and turkey belonging to Northwest Arkansas’ various poultry producers. None of the 18 plant workers on duty at the time of the fire was injured. Lowrimore also said the fire and smoke damage has not affected the operation of the other areas of the plant. “We’re all here and we’re all working,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll have to lay anybody off or anything like that. I just hope it doesn’t take too long to get things inspected, investigated and cleaned up. We haven’t ever had anything like this happen before.”

UPDATE 5th Plant Explosion Victim Dies
A fifth worker has died from injuries received in an explosion at a manufacturing plant in eastern Kentucky. Paul Newman, 50, of Williamsburg, was pronounced dead at 5:37 a.m. EST Wednesday at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, the Lexington-Fayette County Coroner’s Office said. Newman was admitted to the hospital’s burn unit on Feb. 20 when an explosion and fire occurred at the CTA Acoustics plant in Corbin. Four other employees have died from burns and four others remain in critical condition at UK hospital and Vanderbilt University Hospital in Tennessee. Dozens of others were treated at area hospitals. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating the incident. Investigators have been testing flammable dust found in the insulation plant, which produces insulation for automakers. They are exploring whether excess dust may have triggered the explosion. Employees returned to work at the plant this week. Other workers killed in the explosion include David Messer, 43; David “Joe” Hamilton, 37; Arnold Peters, 57; and Jimmy Lemmings, 42.

 

UPDATE Motiva penalty reduced; Refinery agrees to pay fine for violations linked to fire 
By JEFF MONTGOMERY Staff reporter 03/04/2003
Motiva Enterprises has agreed to pay a reduced fine for workplace safety violations linked to a fatal explosion and fire at the Delaware City refinery in July 2001, a federal agency reported Monday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration settlement cut the company’s penalty by one third, to $175,000, for safety offenses connected with the accident. OSHA originally proposed a $259,000 fine last year, citing Motiva for three willful and seven serious violations. In the agreement released Monday, federal officials acknowledged they were unable to prove some of the allegations. In the settlement, the violations were reduced to two citations without a severity designation. Motiva admitted no wrongdoing or violations in accepting the settlement. “The settlement was mutually agreeable to all the parties involved, and basically speaks for itself,” Spiros Mantzavinos, a Motiva spokesman, said late Monday. Boilermaker Jeff Davis of Fairless Hills, Pa., died when a 415,000-gallon sulfuric-acid tank he was working on exploded and collapsed on July 17, 2001. Davis’ remains were never found. Eight other workers were seriously injured and more than 1 million gallons of acid spilled. In January 2002, OSHA investigators found that the company failed to inspect a deteriorating steel tank despite knowing that it ”was long overdue for inspection, had a history of leaks and showed signs of deterioration.” The refinery also failed to equip the tank with devices needed to contain explosive vapors and relieve excessive pressure, federal officials said at the time. The officials said workers were unaware that the acid also contained potentially dangerous hydrocarbon residues when they were assigned to cut metal catwalks from a six-tank acid storage complex on the day of the explosion. The accident had far-reaching effects, including: • Prompting a federal wrongful-death lawsuit and several state injury claims, all still pending. • Spurring a more-than $50 million federal lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Agency an Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. • Accelerating passage of landmark above-ground storage-tank legislation in Delaware. • Contributing to changes in refinery acid-processing methods that triggered a recent, major dispute over Motiva’s plans for new air-pollution control systems and wastewater discharges. • Fueling an unfinished state attorney general’s review of possible criminal charges in connection with Davis’ death. Agency officials said Motiva had agreed to proper maintenance and inspection of its above-ground storage tanks as part of the settlement. Delaware law already requires all large tank owners to take those steps as a result of legislation passed in Davis’ name last year. 

2-alarm fire hits hoppers at north-side pipe plant 
03/04/03
A two-alarm fire on Monday afternoon caused about $10,000 damage to two dust-collection hoppers at a North Portland steel pipe manufacturer. The fire started shortly after noon as workers blasted grit and rust off a 60-foot-long water pipe inside a building at Northwest Pipe Co. in the 12000 block of North Burgard Way, said Neil Heesacker, a Portland Fire Bureau spokesman. Two of the facility’s three metal hoppers caught fire, but the flames remained inside the machines, Heesacker said. The second alarm was sounded at 12:17 p.m. because the first firefighters arriving at the scene feared they would have trouble reaching the flames, Heesacker said. It took 60 firefighters about 30 minutes to contain the fire. Company officials said no employees were injured. As a precaution, 13 workers were evacuated from the lining and coating building where the hoppers are located, said Carol Grant, a Northwest Pipe safety manager. The hoppers were expected to be operating again today, Grant said. Pipes are blasted before a int coating is applied, she said. It was the second time in less than a year that firefighters were called to the plant to extinguish a fire in one of the hoppers. Heesacker said a small fire occurred about six months ago. An investigation was under way, but Heesacker said the investigator suspects a faulty bearing in a fan. — Joseph Rose 

UPDATE Sixth victim dies from Kinston plant explosion
3/4/2003 10:52 AM By: News 14 Carolina Staff
Another victim of the Kinston plant explosion has died. Allen Grant died Monday at UNC Hospital’s Jaycee Burn Unit. He is the sixth person to die after the January fire. Four others are still recovering in the hospital. Meanwhile, employees who once worked at the West Pharmaceutical Services plant are getting help. The company said it worked out a deal with insurance companies to provide employees with cheaper healthcare coverage. State and local politicians also made it easier for employees to receive unemployment benefits. Now, they don’t have to fill out paperwork or spend a lot of time at the unemployment office.

Fire forces gas plant evacuation
By KEITH BRADFORD, EDMONTON SUN
The Bonnie Glen gas plant was evacuated yesterday after a tanker containing a mixture of flammable liquids burst into flames. The tanker became engulfed in flames that shot as high as nine metres into the air during a “routine operation,” said Imperial Oil operations superintendent Gordon Deets. Workers and residents living by the plant near Mulhurst, 82 km southwest of Edmonton, were evacuated. Surrounding roads were also closed while firefighters tackled the blaze. No one was hurt. “We shut the plant down and got all the people out,” said Deets. “The flames at worst were probably 20 or 30 feet above.” Imperial Oil spokesman Pius Rolheiser said the fire started about 3 p.m. during a “routine operation” to remove water from the storage tanker. The tanker contained a mixture of natural gas liquids including propane and butane, he said. “Because of the cold weather and condensation, we get the potential for water vapour to form,” said Rolheiser. “Occasionally this water has to be removed.” Rolheiser denied reports of an explosion and said the “small fire” was extinguished within an hour. The storage tanker was destroyed but otherwise there was no major damage, he said. Imperial Oil will now launch an investigation into the incident. No one from the Mulhurst volunteer fire department was available for comment.

 

Fire damages Erwin ball bearing facility
By Chris Garland Erwin Bureau 
ERWIN — A third-shift fire erupted at the Hoover Precision plant on Jonesborough Road, causing minimal damage around 2:30 a.m. on Monday. According to General Manager Steve Wilson, the fire broke out in the heat-treat department near a furnace that heats precision steel ball bearings to 1,500 degrees. “The biggest problem was the roof area under where the fire started,” Wilson said. “The ball bearings come out of the furnace and then into a quench tank. The quench tank is filled with oil and we believe the ball bearings, for some reason, became jammed and would not move on through, causing a fire in the oil pit. “Shortly after the fire began, our (Carbon Dioxide extinguishing system) kicked on and put the oil fire out. Over the pit the roof caught on fire — the inside only had a few places that burned through, but the tar roof on the outside burned about a 15-to-20-feet section.” Wilson said the extinguishing equipment was installed about two years ago and was worth every penny when it did its job on Monday. There was no damage to the heat-treat unit or to any employees that happened to be working in that area. “The room has a cement floor and an exhaust system that pulled most of the smoke out the top when the CO2 system turned on and extinguished the fire,” Wilson said. “We were really fortunate and the fire system worked well. There were five people working third shift and maybe two of them were in that area. “The oil in our pit was changed out (Monday) and a few electrical wires needed work, other than that we are in good shape with no loss of product and no loss of equipment. “We have some people here assessing the damage but we do not have a total cost on that yet. There were no dangerous toxins or hazards to the environment from this at all. The whole thing happened very quickly and was under control before the Erwin Fire Department arrived on the scene.” Wilson said the outside roof will need tar to replace what was burned. Other than the replacement, production will continue as usual. The Erwin plant has about 100 employees and has produced ball bearings for clients such as Ford and General Motors for 50 years. Hoover Precision is a Japanese-owned corporation with three additional plants and one warehouse in the United States. Hoover Precision also has plants in Mexico and Hungary. 

Fire at Albany Procter and Gamble paper plant
March 3, 2003
Albany — A fire halted production at the Procter and Gamble paper plant in Albany Monday morning. The fire broke out in the plants Building Number 27 storage room about 3 AM. It contained 2 ton rolls of paper products called parent rolls. Three units of the Albany Fire Department aided the P and G fire brigade in putting out the fire. The building didn’t sustain any structural damage, but the paper products were damaged. Production was halted during the fire, but has resumed. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

Situation Under Control After Chemical Explosion at Plant 
Reported by Kristin Smith Web produced by Kelly Reynolds 
A fire broke out at a plant that makes dangerous chemicals safe, and it filled the air with troubling smoke and a nasty stench. When firefighters arrived at Permafix plant in Brownstown Township, they rolled into a visible plume of dangerous air. It made their eyes water and throats burn. Fortunately, the firefighters quickly got the upperhand on the situation and were able to eliminate a lot of the danger. Chopper 7 was overhead shortly after a 55-gallon drum of hazardous chemicals exploded inside the plant. Workers were in the process of trying to neutralize those chemicals and make them safe when that drum exploded for some reason. “Because it is a caustic chemical and you add fire to the formula, and it’s being airborne now, we’re worried about any of that falling into the area because that could be definitely a health risk. We were concerned about that, we did evacuate some businesses just north of here. We notified the city of Taylor which is half mile north, and the fire department got on the scene and in my opinion did an excellent job of knocking it down,” said Brownstown Twp. Police Chief Dan Grant. All total, emergency crews evacuated more than 100 people from the area. Allen Road, which is where the plant is located near Sibley, was closed down for some time, but was reopened later. Firefighters wrapping up and rolling up the hoses, they have the fire out and the situation under control. 

Fire breaks out at a Honda Motor factory
SUZUKA, Mie — A fire broke out at a Honda Motor Co. factory here on Monday evening but was quickly extinguished after burning only four thinner containers, police said. At around 8:30 p.m., a worker at Honda Motor’s Suzuka factory was using a pump to pour paint thinner contained in a drum into smaller cans when the thinner caught fire, police said. The fire burned only the drum and three 18-liter cans before being put out. The fire forced the factory to stop its assembly line about three hours earlier than scheduled, but it will unlikely affect the shipment of automobiles, company officials said. (Mainichi Shimbun, March 4, 2003) 

Local refinery accident sends 13 to hospital 
Updated: 03-03-2003 07:55:15 AM
The fire at the Marathon-Ashland oil refinery in St. Paul Park Tuesday led to another accident Sunday. Several electricians hired to repair the damage inhaled hazardous fumes. The electricians were working in an area of the refinery that boosts octane levels in gasoline, when the spill occurred. Marathon Ashland oil spokesman Bob Behr said, “They were working on a pump, and some fluid came out of the pump, some hydrocarbons. It was about one cup worth. And it had a trace of a chemical in it, too, that vaporized.” That chemical was hydrogen fluoride, or hydrofluoric acid. St. Paul acting 2nd district fire chief Mark Mueller said, “Hydrofluoric acid is extremely toxic, both for inhalation and topically, it can burn through your skin.” Even though the electricians were wearing protective gear, it didn’t stop the fumes from reaching their faces. Dr. Robert Knopp helped treat them. He said, “It was just the facial area that was exposed in a few of them. They had shields, but some even got behind the shields or they had their shields up.” The refinery has several emergency showers and eyewash sites. But they weren’t used because the worst exposure was to their lungs. Paramedics gave the 13 men medicine to help them breathe. Dr. Knopp said, “Several of them came in coughing, having some degree of distress.” Once at Regions’ trauma center, the electricians became the first to ever use Region’s new decontamination unit, which the hospital installed after 9-11. Knopp said “We were able to get them over to our decontamination unit, get them completely showered and washed, to get off any of the remaining residue from the hydrofluoric acid.” Nurses then bagged up all their protective gear. Ten of the 13 men exposed worked for Parsons Electric. The other three electricians taken to the hospital were from Bolt Electric in Fridley. Parsons electric safety director Bill Olson said, “Everyone’s doing well, and we’re real optimistic.” Only two electricians were kept for observation. The rest were sent home. Mueller said, “I would say they’re very lucky.”

Think we are not in this together? Here’s a perfect example of how an accident at one plant can affect your family!!! UPDATE Lack of insulation shuts two Ontario Ford plants
TONY VAN ALPHEN BUSINESS REPORTER
Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. has temporarily shut two assembly plants affecting more than 5,800 workers because of a material shortage. Production at the company’s Windstar minivan plant in Oakville stopped yesterday and the operation will remain idle next week, a Ford spokesperson said. At the St. Thomas assembly plant, output of Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis full-size passenger cars slowed to about 50 per cent between Tuesday and yesterday, and will stop next week. The St. Thomas plant will also stay down during the week of March 10 to reduce inventories in view of lower demand. The temporary shutdowns follow an explosion and fire that killed one worker and injured 43 others at the CTA Acoustics plant in Corbin, Ky., on Feb. 20. The plant supplies some Ford assembly operations with insulation under the hood, and between the engine and passenger compartments. John Arnone, Ford’s manager of public affairs, said the plants will resume production at the end of the scheduled stoppages with insulation from elsewhere. “We have a team working on this issue,” he said. Ford will schedule additional production in subsequent weeks, he also said, to meet demand. The shutdown of the Oakville minivan plant will affect 3,175 workers, who will receive about 65 per cent of their gross income through a combination of company benefits and federal employment insurance. The halt at St. Thomas will idle 2,670 workers, who are eligible for the same benefits. The fire at the Kentucky insulation factory has also forced the shutdown of two Ford plants in Chicago and Atlanta. 

Large blaze breaks out outside Marsiling paper-box factory 
By Johnson Choo 
A large fire broke out outside a paper-box factory at Marsiling Lane early Sunday morning. The fire started at about 1.30 am and a fire fighter was slightly hurt fighting the blaze. Rolls of raw paper material were stacked about six metres high outside the factory of Tradelink Manufacturing, and some of these caught fire. One staff member estimated that losses could be close to S$100,000. But the company was fortunate as the fire did not spread to the factory itself, and all the machinery is still intact. Civil Defence fire-fighters arrived at the scene at about 1.30 am; one fire-fighter ended up with cuts on his palm. Residents staying opposite the factory were woken up by the smoke and activity. “I don’t know why it happened, but suddenly I saw a big fire. We ran out of the house, when we heard the news,” one resident said. “Someone knocked on our door, then I heard explosions. I looked over saw that the fire was very big. Police officers asked us to move away,” another said.

Franklin plant fire sends 7 to hospital; Began in hopper that contained chromium products 
By Anthony J. Gottschlich Warren County Bureau 
FRANKLIN | A fire Wednesday at a Franklin manufacturing plant exposed dozens to potentially harmful chemicals, sending at least seven people to the hospital and forcing hazardous material crews to decontaminate firefighters. The fire at the European-based auto parts supplier Faurecia, 2301 Commerce Center Drive, started at 11:30 a.m. in a hopper that contained chromium products and dust, said Carlisle fire Chief Greg Wallace, who helped the Franklin Fire Department. “The concern is that chromium affects the respiratory system,” Wallace said. The 110,000 square-foot plant in Heritage Business Park produces exhaust components for Ford and General Motors. Wallace said four firefighters and three civilians were sent to Sycamore Hospital in Miamisburg. Hazmat crews performed a decontamination on about a dozen Franklin and Clearcreek Twp. fire employees, but no Faurecia employees, Franklin shift commander Mike Perry said Wednesday night. A company spokesman had said that no employees went through the decontamination process. “Everybody at this point is stable as far as we know,” said Wallace, who noted that the cause of the fire was not known. Flames were contained to the hopper and knocked down quickly, Wallace said. Smoke was the concern. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that chromium(VI) is a human carcinogen. Breathing and ingesting high levels of chromium(VI) can irritate the nose, cause stomach upset and ulcers, convulsions, kidney and liver damage and even death, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. But the chromium at Faurecia’s plant, a component of welding wire, “is not the toxic kind,” said Scott Roy, vice president of human resources for Faurecia’s North American exhaust division. Roy, reached at his Toledo office, said he was assured of that by hazmat officials and plant safety personnel. He said the fire might have been sparked by a problem with a welding machine’s filtration system. The plant, which employs 320 people, resumed operations later in the afternoon, he said. Fire and rescue workers from Franklin, Middletown, Clearcreek Twp., Miami Twp. and Miamisburg responded, as well as the Warren County Emergency Management Agency. Faurecia has operations at 150 locations throughout the world, including a plant in Troy in Miami County, according to its Web site. The Franklin plant opened in 1995 as Tube Products to support the GM C/K trucks. It later became AP Automotive, which was acquired by Faurecia in 1999. 

Workers in Santa Rosa blast pulled to safety; Early-morning explosion at vitamin company injures two 
February 27, 2003 By LORI A. CARTER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT 
A Santa Rosa man pulled two injured co-workers to safety Wednesday morning after an explosion and small fire at a Roseland vitamin plant. Dodging flying debris, Domingo Banuelos, 37, dragged Luis Arroyo, 18, and Gama Marquez, 47, from a vitamin drying room where an oven exploded at 6:30 a.m., just as workers were starting their shift at Randal Nutritional Products. Arroyo and Marquez were knocked to the ground by the blast, and Arroyo was thrown across the room, witnesses and fire investigators said. As Banuelos pulled the men to safety, another worker, Dave Sunderman Sr., grabbed a fire extinguisher and doused a small fire that ignited after the blast. Marquez and Arroyo were taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with what appeared to be serious injuries, but both men were well enough to be released a few hours later, Randal spokeswoman Donna Coats said. Fire investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the explosion in one of two small rooms that house drying ovens for vitamin tablets. One possibility was alcohol used in a vitamin-powder base somehow ignited, said Mark Pedroia, a Santa Rosa fire inspector. “I was walking right by the room when I heard the explosion,” Banuelos said, removing a baseball cap to show two cuts he suffered from flying debris. “I saw a lot of smoke everywhere. I saw the two guys there and got them outside.” “The employees did all the right things: They rescued their co-workers, used the fire extinguishers and called the fire department,” Pedroia said. “These guys are fortunate their injuries weren’t more severe.” Randal Nutritional Products, started in the 1950s by nutritional researcher Downing “Don” Randal, manufactures, bottles, labels and ships herbs, vitamins and nutritional supplements to health food stores around the country. “We’ve been in business 55 years and this is the first time something like this has ever happened,” Coats said Wednesday, standing with other shaken Randal employees. A California Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator was looking into the accident Wednesday, a standard response in cases of industrial injuries. Randal has had a clean safety record since 1990, when a few minor violations were reported and rectified quickly, according to Cal-OSHA records. Production workers were just getting ready for their shift, putting on gloves and hairnets, when the blast shook the 4-foot by 14-foot wood-frame drying room where vitamins had been drying in ovens overnight, Coats said. Arroyo, who was closest to the oven, was thrown across the room into a wall and Marquez was hit by a door that was blown off, employees said. Arroyo had been with the company a year and Marquez at least seven years. The walls and ceiling buckled, but damage was confined to the single room. Two drying ovens are used to cure vitamins with a base of alcohol and powder, Pedroia said. He will investigate whether the explosion resulted from a problem in the heating or ventilation system or was related to alcohol in the vitamin base. Randal employees said nothing out of the ordinary was happening in the room. “We’ll look at what’s different — the temperature, humidity, a change in the procedures. We don’t know what happened yet,” Pedroia said. News researcher Michelle Van Hoeck contributed to this report.

UPDATE Investigators Looking At Dust As Possible Cause Of Plant Blast
(CORBIN, Ky., February 27th, 2003, 11 a.m.) — As federal investigators began testing flammable dust found in the insulation plant ripped by an explosion last week, a fourth worker died, according to the Fayette County coroner’s office. David Messer, 43, of Gray, died at 2:13 a.m. EDT at the University of Kentucky Medical Center burn unit, according to a report by Coroner Gary Ginn. Four other workers remain in critical condition after the explosion at CTA Acoustics, which makes insulation for automakers. Investigators are exploring whether excess dust may have triggered the explosion. “There were concerns about dust in the air clearly,” said Daniel Horowitz, spokesman for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. “But we have not concluded anything yet.” The Chemical Safety Board is one of two federal agencies investigating last Thursday’s blast. David “Joe” Hamilton, 37, and Arnold Peters, 57, died of their injuries at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville Tuesday. Jimmy Lemmings, 42, died Sunday at the same hospital. Federal agents have interviewed many workers who were in the plant when the explosion occurred. Company officials declined to comment on dust levels or plant safety procedures. “It is much too soon for anyone to be publicly offering any theory on what caused the explosion,” said Roy Winnick, spokesman for CTA Acoustics. “It will be some time before the various groups that have been looking into this situation analyze the data they have gathered and come to a final or definitive conclusion.” The presence of such dust is common at factories that manufacture the kinds of products made at CTA and is usually not explosive, chemical board officials said. But under certain circumstances the dust can build up to a concentration that can become explosive, they said. A massive explosion last month at a North Carolina pharmaceutical company, for instance, is thought to have been caused in part by an overabundance of such particles, according to the board. Mike Nantz, who was one of the workers burned at the Corbin site, said Wednesday that the dust inside the plant was often thick, and workers stationed along the production lines were required to wear dust masks. Nantz suffered extensive burns to his face, hips and lower back. He said he did not remember whether the dust in the air was particularly thick near the production line where he became engulfed in flames. “I paid no attention to it,” he said, and he noted that as bad as it was, the air quality inside the plant had improved in recent years. “But you can see the dust. It’s just like smoke in the air, and black.” Among the most badly injured patients were 10 workers who initially were in critical condition, six at Vanderbilt and four at the University of Kentucky Hospital. Of the three patients still at Nashville, Geneva Philpot, 49, is in stable condition, Tom Baker, 26, is in critical but stable condition and William Daniels, 34, is in critical condition. The three patients remaining at UK — Paul Newman, Clarence Davis and Michael Reeves — remain in critical condition. CTA Acoustics president Jim Pike issued a statement expressing sorrow over the workers’ deaths. “All of us at CTA Acoustics mourn this tragic loss,” Pike said Wednesday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.” 

UPDATE Chemical Company Looks to Rebuild
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Tetraco Chemical Company in Midland reportedly plans to rebuild on the site where its facility burned to the ground late last week. An investigation into what caused Friday`s fire is being conducted by Midland Fire Marshal Dale Little, who hopes to have an official explanation this week. The fire is believed to have been the result of an accident. The blaze triggered a number of explosions at the plant after the fire broke out in the back of the building. No one was injured. Emergency crews evacuaed dozens of nearby residents and workers because of possible toxic fumes from the blaze. 

Two killed by blast at chemicals plant in Ukraine
KYIV. Feb 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Two people were killed by a gas explosion at a coke chemical plant in Ukraine on Thursday. The blast, which occurred in Makeyivka, Donetsk region, fatally injured two workers and 10 others received burns, the State Committee for Labor Safety Supervision told Interfax. Committee chief Serhiy Storchak and an Emergency Situations Ministry team arrived at the explosion site, a plant unit launched in 1963. A commission has been set up to investigate the accident.

Factory hit by explosion Feb 27 2003
By Emma Gunby Echo Reporter
FIREFIGHTERS were today damping down after an explosion at a plastics factory. More than 20 firefighters were called to Hemmings Plastics on the Wheathills industrial estate in Holt Lane, Netherley, just after 8.30 last night. There were 53 emergency calls from the public reporting a large explosion and an investigation was under way today. One witness said: “I honestly thought it was a bomb. The whole house shook and there was a big explosion. People were running out into the streets to see what had happened. I thought we were being attacked.” The explosion was caused when a chemical cylinder containing acetylene went up in flames at the factory. A fire brigade spokesman said: “We cordoned off a 200m exclusion zone. “The acetylene cylinders are basically like unexploded bombs when they are heated up. The cylinders have to be cooled down for 24 hours after being in contact with fire. “The fire was quite spectatular because the cyclinders kept exploding.” Residents gathered behind the safety cordon and watched a crouching firefighter direct a jet of water. Some of those waiting were anxious to find out if they would be able to go to work today at HPL Containers next door. A resident in nearby Damson Road said the house had shook and there was a bright light in the sky when the cylinder exploded. 

UPDATE Two More Die From Injuries Suffered In Eastern Ky. Plant Explosion
(CORBIN, Ky., February 26th, 2003, 11 a.m.) — Two more employees have died after being badly burned in an explosion at an eastern Kentucky manufacturing plant. David Hamilton, 37, of Williamsburg, and Arnold Peters, 57, of Corbin, died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said spokesman Clinton Colmenares. Hamilton died at 10:44 p.m. CST Tuesday. Peters died at 5:56 a.m. CST Wednesday. The two men are the latest victims of the an explosion at CTA Acoustics in Corbin last Thursday that killed one other man and injured dozens. Three patients — Geneva Philpot, 49, of Manchester, Robert Baker, 26, of Lily, and William Daniels, 34, of Corbin — remain in the burn unit at Vanderbilt. Philpot is in stable condition, while Baker and Williams remain in critical condition, Colmenares said Wednesday. Jimmy Lemmings, 42, died Sunday at the hospital — the first fatality from the blast. Four other workers — David Messer, Paul Newman, Clarence Davis and Michael Reeves — remained in critical condition at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center, Chuck Ham, spokesman for the hospital, said Wednesday. Ham also said a female worker who had been reported in fair condition was released Monday night. Her name was not released. A CTA employee taken to the University of Louisville Hospital after the blast, Bernard Hacker, was in fair condition. Altogether, 44 people were treated at hospitals in Corbin and London after the blast and fire, with more than a dozen transferred to other hospitals because of the patients’ burns. CTA uses recycled fiberglass to make acoustic and thermal insulation for the automotive industry. The plant reopened earlier this week. Federal and state fire investigators have finished their initial examination of the scene and determined the fire started around production line No. 5 — where mats of fiberglass and backing material are bonded by passing them through ovens powered by natural gas. 

UPDATE Marathon refinery fire extinguished
Marathon Oil Co. said on Wednesday the fire that broke out in the 6,000 barrel-per-day alkylation unit at its St. Paul Park, Minn., refinery on Tuesday afternoon was extinguished late Tuesday. The alkylation unit produces components for higher octane and cleaner-burning reformulated gasolines. “There were no injuries and the cause of the fire is under investigation,” said company spokesman Chuck Rice. The refinery is jointly owned by Houston-based Marathon Oil and Covington, Ky.-based Ashland Inc. Last December the companies reached a $13 million settlement in connection with federal criminal charges prompted by a 1997 explosion at the refinery. 

Plant explosion, fire cause little damage
By John Thompson Press Staff Writer 
An explosion in a sawdust bin at the Harris-Tarkett flooring plant on East Maple Street at 3 p.m. Tuesday created a lot of excitement, flames and smoke, but no injuries or serious damage. The explosion was in the northernmost sawdust bin. The bin was collecting dust from the plant when the sawdust was ignited by a spark. The spark was probably caused by a metal fragment or nail striking the machinery. The safety equipment did what it was supposed to do to keep the blast from being more serious, according to Roger Teinert, assistant fire chief of the Johnson City Fire Department. He said the blast panels on the bin were blown off the way they were designed and the sprinkler system came on. Despite the precautions, the blast set fire to several piles of sawdust in the surrounding area, including the tarpaulin covering a 40-foot trailer filled to the brim with fine sawdust. The multiple fires and smoke made a dramatic scene for the first firefighters on the scene, but the flames were quickly brought under control. The blast was felt hundreds of feet away. The closest people to the blast other than plant employees were a group of Washington County Emergency Management Agency personnel and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The EMA group was meeting in a solidly-built brick building once used by the Harris-Tarkett management. The blast reverberated through the building, frightening the group that was planning for a regional EMA meeting next month. The building was about 200 feet from the dust bins. Although handling emergencies is their daily occupation, the group was taken by surprise with the industrial emergency. The tension was quickly relieved by Jerome Christian, a 40-year volunteer with the Washington County EMA. “There goes Harris again,” Christian said, telling everyone that he had seen several explosions in the dust bins over the years. Although the fire was quickly brought under control, firefighters had a dirty job making sure that all the hot spots in the tons of sawdust were out. The firefighters scrambled up into the bins, using poles to break loose the packed sawdust. The firefighters were covered in sawdust and soot when they completed the dirty job. Most of the firefighters returned to their stations by 4:30 p.m. 

UPDATE Raging inferno shakes up northside
Investigators unable to explain what started fire that led tankers to explode. Bob Vanden Brink was at work early Monday morning when he felt it. Libby Ellerbroek was getting her kids ready for school when she heard it. The boom was just incredible,” said Vanden Brink, who works at Kalkman Redi-Mix. “This building just shook.” Homes and businesses across Holland Township rattled around 7:30 a.m. Monday when four tanker trucks at Brenner Oil exploded, sending flames shooting up hundreds of feet into the air and thick dark smoke visible from miles away billowing into the clear sky. One employee at the company suffered minor injuries and three firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation and skin irritation sustained while battling the blaze, which burned for hours. “I could see the flames through these trees and a big plume of black smoke billowing in the air,” said Vanden Brink, who works just west of Brenner Oil. “It got to a point where it was above the tree line.” Vanden Brink ran towards the company, located at 12948 Quincy Ave., to see if he could help, but help was on the way. When he got there, he saw a tanker truck fully involved in flames, company employees driving other fuel trucks parked nearby out of harm’s way, and one truck parked some distance away with smoke coming from its tires. “It was a raging inferno. It really was,” Vanden Brink said. “I heard many secondary explosions in the background.” The fire started as employees at Brenner Oil emptied kerosene out of a truck slated for maintenance work. The Quincy Street facility houses administrative offices for the company along with maintenance areas. “It was spectacular,” said Doug Brenner, the owner and president of the company. “So, people are concerned, shocked. We’re trying to deal with it the best we can. We were extremely shocked this morning.”One employee was in the area of the explosion. Fire officials said he had minor injuries, but company officials said he was OK. “He was fairly close by, but he made it to safety,” Eric Gielow, a Hollan attorney who represents Brenner Oil, said. “We’re really thankful nothing worse happened.” The exact cause of the blaze isn’t known yet, Holland Township Fire Chief Doug Van Hekken said. “The exact cause is still under investigation,” Gielow said. “There’s no reason to suspect vandalism, or terrorism. We’re fully cooperating with the investigation.” When Holland Township firefighters arrived on scene, there was “heavy fire” in the back of the facility, Van Hekken said. He called in five other fire departments, including the cities of Holland and Zeeland and the Park, Olive Township and Port Sheldon township forces. Ellerbroek, who lives about a block away from the oil company, said her family heard the tanker blow-up. “We heard the explosion while getting the kids ready for school,” she said. “I heard just little explosions after that, little pops about every 15 minutes.” Authorities shut down Quincy Street at U.S. 31 and 136th Avenue. They also closed John F. Donnelly Drive next to the company. Brenner Oil is located in a mostly industrial area, with only a few residences surrounding it. Employees at Magna Donnelley’s distribution center, located just south of Brenner Oil, were evacuated for about an hour as a precaution, Bill Smith, Ottawa County’s emergency management coordinator, said. “Once the explosion threat was contained, there was no danger (to the public),” Smith said. “It was fuel, not some pesticide or chemical.” Officials were more concerned with the foam used to fight the fire. They took measures to prevent the foam from running into the drain system and called in a environmental clean-up crew to vacuum up the foam. Officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality were on hand to monitor the clean-up. Three firefighters, one from Holland Township and two from Park Township, were taken to Holland Community Hospital suffering from skin rashes after being exposed to some sort of fuel additive, Ottawa County Sheriff Sgt. Randy Pluister said. One of those firefighters was also being treated for smoke inhalation. Fire fighters battled the blaze for about four hours, but investigators remained on the scene for the rest of Monday. Brenner Oil employs about 100 people in several West Michigan locations, with about 30 people working at the Quincy Street location. The fire should not affect the company’s ability to make its deliveries of fuel, mostly used for heating, Brenner said.

Fierce blaze wrecks plastics factory
Feb 25, 2003, 12:25:00
More than 60 firefighters spent several hours battling a fierce fire which swept through a Black Country factory today. The blaze broke out shortly before 8am at the J & R Polythene in Downing Street, Smethwick. Eight fire crews, plus specialist units, from across the West Midlands responded to the fire, which destroyed dozens of pallets of wrapping paper and other plastic products. West Midlands Fire Service divisional officer, Tom Baker, who was in charge of the incident, said the cause of the blaze was still unclear. Teams of firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought their way through dense toxic smoke to reach the seat of the fire, which burned through the roof of the single storey building. Crews used three hose reels to suppress the flames as they extinguished the fire area by area throughout the premises. Divisional officer Baker said: “The fire was made difficult to get to because we had to fight our way through thick black smoke, which was very acrid because of the chemicals involved. “The smoke was so thick inside the factory that the firefighters could not even see where they were going at one point.” Police officers sealed off surrounding roads as a giant safety cordon sprang up around the fire site. Paramedics teams were also on stand-by to assist the breathing apparatus unit inside the burning plant. Divisional officer Baker said that crews were likely to remain at the scene for much of the morning.

Spectacular blaze destroys factory
NTR Monday, February 24, 2003
A violent blaze destroyed a door and window factory Sunday night in Terrebonne, which is northeast of Montreal. The Industries Melco factory was a total loss. The business employed a dozen workers. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. It began at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Terrebonne firefighters were unable to control the blaze on their own. They called in firefighters from the neighbouring municipalities of Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Bois-des-Filion et Repentigny.

Flames engulf RI industrial building
By Marc Chase
Rock Island firefighters fought heavy black smoke and flames at an industrial building near the corner of 5th Avenue and 12th Street for more than two hours Monday night. No one was injured in the fire, which engulfed much of what Battalion Chief Tony Taylor referred to as an old machine shed. Taylor said some equipment — including a forklift — remained in the building at 517 12th St. But most of the building was being used for storage of odd and ends, he added. A cause for the fire had not been determined as of late Monday. Firefighters arrived about 7:40 p.m. to find thick black smoke and flames shooting from the roof of the building, Taylor said. Most of the flames were subdued by 9:20 p.m., but Taylor expected that his crew of firefighters would have to remain for another two hours to completely put the fire out.

Fire Sweeps Through Business Complex; Firefighters Take About 2 Hours To Bring Fire Under Control 
February 25, 2003 
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — It took about two hours for firefighters to get a fire under control at a business complex on the 5000 block of East Simpson Ferry Road in Hampden Township. The complex houses four businesses, including the Battery Warehouse. Fire crews were initially worried that the fire would reach that business and the batteries could explode. The fire was spotted around 10 a.m. Tuesday. “I heard a noise and I went over to look at it and I saw a flame and smoke and basically, I said to my client, ‘Let’s get out,’ made sure he grabbed his stuff, I grabbed my coat and we got out,” said John Sonnett, with Sonnett Fitness Center. “I’d like to know what the extent of the damage is with my business, certainly it’s going to affect me, but I we’ll see what happens,” said Gretta Zechman, with Aardvark Signs. Although the fire was widespread, fire officials said it mainly damaged the vacant offices in the building, but it looks like the fitness center may be a total loss. Fire officials said it’s too early to determine a cause. They said it started in the ceiling in the back of the building. Witnesses told News 8 that two workers had been renovating the back of the building. Two firefighters were injured. The fire chief told News 8 that they suffered burns to the face. They were treated at an ambulance and went right back to work.

No injuries reported in Minnesota refinery fire
St. Paul, Minnesota-AP — A refinery fire in a St. Paul, Minnesota, suburb pumped flames and black smoke into the air today, but no one was hurt. The Marathon Ashland refinery in St. Paul Park was not evacuated, and the fire appeared contained a little over an hour after it started. A company spokesman says everyone’s accounted for and no one was injured. He says the early afternoon fire began in an “alkylation” unit, which boosts the octane of gasoline. Neither the cause of the fire nor the extent of damage are known. The facility was recently ordered to pay nine (m) million dollars in fines and restitution for a 1997 fire that injured six company firefighters. The company was also ordered to upgrade the facility. 

At least 23 dead in Chinese mine blast – Xinhua
LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Twenty-three miners were reported dead and 28 were still missing after a gas explosion in a coal mine on Monday in southwest China’s Guizhou province, Xinhua news agency said. It said 40 miners were also injured in the mid-afternoon blast at the Muchonggou colliery in Lupanshui city. There were 353 people working in the mine at the time of the explosion. (Writing by Ian MacKenzie; Reuters Messaging 

Mine Accidents Kill 4 in Ukraine 
Monday February 24, 2003 4:40 PM
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Four miners were killed in separate accidents over the weekend and emergency workers were searching for two others who were still buried under rubble Monday, four days after an explosion ripped through a Ukrainian mine. A 24-year-old miner died Sunday in a coal car accident some 1,640 feet underground at the Duvanna mine in the region of Luhansk after breaking safety rules, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Ihor Krol said. A 40-year-old miner also was killed Sunday 985 feet underground at the Zhytomyrska mine in the Donetsk, another eastern region, when a coal layer collapsed on him. On Monday, emergency workers found the body of the second of four miners trapped beneath rubble some 1,250 feet underground after a methane gas explosion ripped through the Yanivskaya-Hlubokaya mine near the city of Donetsk early Thursday. One body was found Saturday, and rescuers were still looking for the other two men. Six of the ten miners working at the scene were rescued shortly after the blast. Ukraine’s mines are considered among the world’s most deadly due to high concentrations of methane gas, lax enforcement of safety standards and decrepit equipment. More than 250 miners died in Ukraine’s mines last year; some 3,700 have been killed since 1991. 

Tankers explode in Holland Township, MI
Courtesy of WOOD TV 8 – Grand Rapids, MI
Holland Township — Four oil tanker trucks were involved in a fire at the Brenner Oil Company at the intersection of Quincy and U.S. 31 in Holland Township. The explosions occurred around 7:30 this morning. Bill Smith, Ottawa County Emergency Management Director, says four people received minor injuries. Two firefighters are being treated at Holland Community Hospital for smoke inhalation, another for skin irritation. Smith says a Brenner Oil employee also suffered minor injuries, there’s no word on what caused that injury. Fire crews from Holland, Holland Township, Grand Haven, and Zeeland battled the blaze, using foam to extinguish the flames The flames did reach a nearby warehouse. Crews have contained both fires. The cause of the explosion is yet unknown. Officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and MIOSHA are on the scene. Just before 11:00 this morning, police reopened John F. Donnelly Drive, which was closed for several hours because of the fire. 24 Hour News 8 has crews on the scene, and will bring you more details as they become available. 

Fire Flared Up Three Times At West Nashville Plant 
Firefighters spent hours dousing a blaze at a wood products plant in West Nashville late Sunday night, only to have it flare up again hours later. Firefighters say a container of sawdust at the Bruce Hardwood Flooring factory ignited around 11:00pm Sunday night. Crews put out the flames, but a small fire rekindled around 6:00am Monday morning, then again at 10:00am. The fire started in a sawdust chopper at Bruce Hardwood. The sawdust is sucked into a hopper, sort of a silo that holds the dust until it’s transported somewhere else. Firefighters say they are called to the plant two or three times a year when the sawdust spontaneously combusts.

UPDATE First Fatality From Corbin Plant Explosion
An explosion at a plant in Corbin, Kentucky last week has claimed its first life. 40 people were injured in the explosion and fire at the CTA Acoustics factory on Thursday morning. 42 year old Jimmy Lemmings, a worker at the plant, died Sunday from his injuries. He was among several patients who were critically injured with burns on up to 90 percent of their bodies. Local, state and federal officials are investigating the cause of the blast, but their findings are not expected for several weeks. 

UPDATE Surveyors Continue Mapping Staten Island Barge Wreckage
(New York-AP, February 24, 2003) — Work in the waters around the fatal barge explosion on Staten Island continued Monday, with a team mapping out the wreckage of the vessel and figuring out when and how it could be safely moved. Salvage experts were using underwater sensors to survey the debris, with one diver venturing into the water at a time until the safety of the area could be determined, officials said. The surveyors, hired by the company that owns the barge, were facing difficult conditions in a confined area with limited visibility, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Joe Fischetti said. The barge, owned by Bouchard Transportation Co., was unloading 100,000 barrels of gasoline when it exploded Friday morning, killing two workers and critically injuring a third. A gasoline-fueled fire at the site burned for nearly two days. Officials said there was no evidence to suggest that the blast was anything but an accident, but said it could take months to determine the cause. Investigators have said that they are looking into a possible pump malfunction. The injured worker, Frank Scandariato, told investigators he heard a strange noise that seemed to be coming from the pumps before the blast, which killed John Kyne and Ford Ebanks. Kyne, 52, of Huntsville, Ala., was the captain of the barge, and Ebanks, 24, of Miami, Fla., was the mate. Ebanks was a Honduran immigrant whose wife had just given birth to a baby girl. Scandariato, 48, of Middletown, N.J., remained hospitalized Monday with burns over 15 percent of his body. Also Monday, Rep. Vito Fossella, who represents Staten Island, was to be briefed by the Coast Guard and planned to visit the site of the explosion at the Port Mobil Terminal, owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. 

UPDATE Wamsutter burn victim improving
By TARA WESTREICHER Star-Tribune staff writer
The condition of a Casper man who was severely burned in a flash fire in January while working in the oil and gas fields north of Wamsutter has improved, his parents said Thursday. Brett Doherty, an employee of the Cobra Well-Testing Co., was injured just before daylight Jan. 29 during a brief explosion while working at a Samson Resources Co. well site. He was flown that afternoon to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he remained unconscious until Tuesday morning, said Doherty’s mother, Arlene Johnson. She said her son was still conscious Thursday and that he may be able to leave the hospital in about four to six weeks. He will undergo physical therapy. Doherty is on a ventilator in the burn-trauma section of the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. His condition is still critical, though he has stabilized, Johnson said. “He has to learn to eat again, he has to learn to swallow again, he has to learn how to talk, he has to learn to write — everything,” said Johnson’s husband, Dwayne. Doherty’s lungs and the condition of his hands continue to be major concerns, but his facial burns are healing, his family said . After the accident, authorities said they were unsure if static electricity caused the flash fire or if gas was ignited with a lighter. A lighter was found near Doherty’s burnt clothing, investigators said. But Johnson contends the lighter may have dropped out of her son’s pocket. Furthermore, she said, he wasn’t close enough to the gauges to take a reading. After regaining consciousness, Johnson said her son indicated that he hadn’t used the lighter. The well site where the accident occurred is approximately 28 miles north of Wamsutter in southwestern Wyoming. After the accident, Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Deputy Don Taylor said Doherty and another employee were checking a separator unit at the well site when Doherty went to the separator unit and opened the door. That’s when the gas fumes exploded, he said. The co-worker assisted Doherty and then put out the fire with an extinguisher. 

Two killed in China blast 
Beijing, Feb. 24. (PTI): An explosion in a chemical plant left two dead and injured four others in Daxian County of the Southwestern Chinese province, county authorities said today. Zhao Dazhong, a management staff with the plant, said the explosion occurred yesterday when workers were trying to dredge a jammed blast furnace. As they were trying to dredge the jammed furnace molten iron gushed out and exploded. A worker close to the furnace died on-the-spot, while another succumbed to his injuries later, police said adding, the injured have been admitted to hospital. Police said investigation are on to ascertain the cause of accident. The workshop was being rented by a former plant worker to produce motorcycle fittings and parts, they added. 

UPDATE Recovery a miracle for burn victim 
Monday, February 24, 2003 By MATTHEW RALPH Staff Writer 
MILLVILLE — A former city resident severely injured in an electrical mishap in Texas last month is making miraculous progress recovering from injuries that nearly took his life. Dirk Sharp, 43, of Malakoff, Tex., an electrical contractor, was electrocuted while performing a power line conversion at a church in a small town approximately 100 miles north of Dallas Jan. 10. Both of his arms were amputated as a result of severe burns sustained from a shock of 14,400 volts that Sharp received from a power line believed to be dead. “He’s very up and in very good spirits,” said Marion Reese, of Millville, Sharp’s aunt. “God saved him and we know that there is something down the road for him.” Reese said her congregation at Trinity United Methodist Church in Millville has been praying for Sharp for the past month, since she first learned of the tragic news of his accident. “You just can’t imagine, every time you hear about,” said Reese, who has not seen Sharp since the accident but has talked to him on the phone. “He has such great faith.” Sharp lived in Millville until the age of 8, when his father Tom took a job in Texas and relocated the family. Sharp’s mother Lois said he was on a Little League team that won a championship the last year they lived in the city. She said she has been amazed at how many people in the area and all over the country have been praying for her son. “It hit all over,” Sharp said, talking on a cell phone in Florida. “All you had to do was tell one person and people all over were praying for him. You just wouldn’t believe the power of prayer that we have witnessed.” Sharp credits her son’s faith and persistence for his miraculous recovery when many thought he wasn’t going to make it. “We think it’s a miracle,” she said. “He had a cross around his neck when he was working that day and while his body was severely burned, there wasn’t a mark on that cross.” Dirk was transferred last week to Hanger, a rehabilitation center in Oklahoma City where he will be fitted and begin rehabilitation with prosthetic arms. He was able to eat his first meal in public en route to Oklahoma, Sharp said. “He’s doing so great and his spirits are so high,” Sharp said. “He feels that everything is going to be fine and that God has a special plan for him.” Sharp said that plan might include him going to speak to others about what he has gone through. “He’s uplifted so many people already with his life and I feel God can really use what has happened for him to reach people with a message of hope,” Sharp said. A hope that his family and friends in Texas, Millville, and elsewhere have held firm the duration of his miraculous recovery.