Sprinklers blamed in (magnesium) fire (Indiana)

[melnjones]

ANDERSON, Ind. -- Thousands of evacuated residents returned home Saturday after a major chemical fire lost its intensity and an unlikely culprit was revealed.

Fire officials said water from the magnesium recycling plant's sprinkler system on Friday turned a small fire into a roaring one that burned in spectacular fashion overnight.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=411&e=1&u=/krindianapolis/20050116/lo_krindianapolis/sprinklersblamedinfire


Only in my hometown, lol...:-)

[madrchsod]

1. a million + pounds of the stuff

300,000 burned because they didn`t cap the sprinkler system.hmmm i guess they forgot burning magnesium and water don`t mix....

[bloom]

2. I suppose they were following "code" ...eom

[Wilms]

3. I wondered about water. But not sprinklers.

I recall one of the articles stating the fire started out small, there were only a few firetrucks responding, then things got nasty.

I also read that the Fire Dept. didn't know (!) what was in the place. (Not good to not know stuff like that.)

Perhaps they watered instead of foaming. :shrug:

[melnjones]

4. It's amazing...nobody I know even knew the plant existed...

I thought it was an empty building. Who knew we had the biggest magnesium plant in the world in our little city? Well, I guess that's about right for our town...wait to realize we have something cool until it blows up. Sorry, gotta find humor in it somewhere:-)

[Wilms]

7. Something ain't right.

melnjones, hope you post more as this unfolds.

Bet the insurer won't be pleased.

[d.l.Green]

5. Perhaps it was a "military secret" n/t

[NYC]

9. The article also mentioned explosions, which made me think of water,

but I thought the fire dept. would be smart enough not to put water on the magnesium.

I don't know what the fire dept. did, but I guess the sprinkler system caused the explosions/flare ups.

[benburch]

6. I had to point this very thing out once.

I was installing an AGV system in an automated machining cell in a plant up in Halifax, NS.

At one end of the isle of milling machines, which milled magnesium-alloy turboprop housings, was a chip dump where the chip conveyor dumped the chips into a tun that the AGVs could pick up and take to the loading dock for disposal.

Right over the chip dump, in case there was a fire?

A water sprinkler!

I pointed this out, and there was a round of "Oh... Damn..." and they eventually built a metal hut over the chip dump with a Met-L-X fire extinguisher system.

[Wilms]

8. What's an AGV system? n/t

[benburch]

10. Automatic Guided Vehicle

Imagine a 17,000 pound robotic forklift. They follow wires in the floor, and can very accurately navigate around a factory to pick up and deposit machining pallets and other loads the system needs to have moved. All automatically scheduled.

Here is a site of a current manufacturer; http://www.coreconagvs.com/rel/forklift_agv.html

I did all my work for Portec, now defunct, and our AGVs were considerably bigger than these.

[DukeBlue]

11. I deal with all kinds

of nasties. Magnesium included. Water would have no effect. Once lit it is very difficult to deal with, even with the proper gear.

The FD should have known what is onsite. I file MSDS with our FD every time I get something new in. If you do not do this you are breaking the law.

I wonder what started it? Magnesium has a relatively high ignition point, even in a powder form.