Industrial Fire Prevention

"Near the end of the day shift on Jan. 19, 2012, a saw on the large headrig Roche operated "deviated" throwing up sparks and lighting the nearby sawdust. That's not unheard of in a sawmill, but this time it also sent a burst of flame high enough to nearly hit the ceiling as it climbed the sawdust floating in the air." Lakeland inquest fraught with controversy -  from The Working Forest, Your #1 source for forestry and forest industry news, and the Prince George Citizen By: Prince George Citizen Set to resume next month, plenty of ground has already been covered over the two-and-a-half weeks the coroner's inquest into the fatal Lakeland Mills sawmill explosion has been held so far. By the time it was temporarily adjourned on March 26, the inquest had heard from 47 witnesses, beginning with the widows of Al Little and Glenn Roche, who died from the extensive burns they suffered in the April 23, 2012 blast. Another 22 people were injured, many seriou...

MERCOR TECRESA - The Thrower Extinguisher A Japanese company has developed an extinguisher which is activated when it is thrown into the flames and, as we can see in the video, it extinguish the fire.   The container holds a blue liquid which, when released, it is scattered on the fire area releasing the ammonium that acts as a fire retardant. This mixture all together the carbon dioxide generated by the fire extinguish it.

From NFPA Journal and NFPA.org - Credible Risk, March April 2015 PREPARING A NEW NFPA STANDARD requires a mixture of ingredients, some provided by the public and the technical committee, others provided by NFPA staff. The aim is that, in the end, we have developed a meaningful document that benefits the targeted occupancy or addresses a particular hazard. The path to completion can sometimes be unusual, as was the case with the new NFPA 652, Fundamentals of Combustible Dust , which is due to be issued this summer. To ensure that certain deadlines were met, NFPA’s editorial team resorted to humor to catch my attention. I love soccer, and was fortunate to spend time in Brazil last summer at the FIFA World Cup, where I followed the progress of the U.S. side through the so-called “group of death.” When I returned to work, one of the tasks at the top of my list was to review the edits to the Second Revisions for NFPA 652 prior to balloting the committee. To help put me in the prop...

From WoodworkingNetwork.com How to Prevent Comdust Combustible Sawdust - How to Protect Your Workers Your Business Posted: 04/01/2015 4:04PM EDITOR’S NOTE: This information was presented in the webcast “Combustible Sawdust - How to Protect Your Workers Your Business,” which broadcast in March. Presented by Air Handling’s Jamison Scott, and sponsored by GreCon, the full webcast can be heard on-demand at WoodworkingNetwork.com/webcasts .  Combustible dust continues to make headlines. One of the top health and safety issues in the woodworking industry, it impacts companies of all sizes. OSHA defines combustible dust as “fine particles that present an explosion hazard when suspended in the air, in certain conditions.” For a combustible dust explosion to occur, five factors must be present: fuel (combustible dust), ignition (heat or spark), oxygen (air), dispersion (dust suspension) and confinement.  Removal of any ...

From Industry Tap and George Mason University Crank It Up! George Mason Students Designed Device That Puts Out Fires With Sound Waves By: Marshall Smith | March 26th, 2015 YouTube/George Mason University George Mason University’s Seth Robertson and Viet Tran have designed a device capable of  extinguishing fires with sound waves! Who knew cranking up dubstep and waiting for the drop could actually be used for something  helpful? Using $600 of equipment in total, encompassing amps, a speaker and something thing they call a  collimator, Robertson and Tran discovered sound in the 30 to 60 hertz range seems to vibrate the oxygen away from the fuel, causing the flame to die out. The two students have already proven many of their peers and professors wrong, and actually already have a preliminary patent for their invention. Next, is deciding whether or not the idea is scalable and if a full patent is necessary? I’ll guess we’ll just have to wa...

From 5NEWSOnline.com Three Hospitalized After Flash Fire at OK Foods Feed Mill LEFLORE COUNTY (KFSM) – Three people are hospitalized with severe burns Tuesday morning (Mar. 24) after a flash fire at the OK Foods Feed Mill in LeFlore County. Two people remain in critical condition at a hosptial in Tulsa. The other worker was transported to Sparks Hospital with minor injuries. An officer with Heavener Police said the flash fire happened at the mill on Highway 128 around 7:30 p.m. Monday night (Mar. 23). Authorities said it happened on the third floor of the mill, where two contract welders were working. Authorities said grain dust suddenly caught fire. Several employees were inside the building at the time of the incident jumping to safety from three stories up, authorities said. Most of them were able to make it outside of the building without any injuries. The conditions and the identities of the burn victims are not b...