Multiple Repeat Wood Pellet Plant Fires

http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=168495&zoneid=164

After a three month respite from a previous combustible dust related fire, Corinth Wood Pellets experiences another fire. The last fire caused thousands of dollars worth of damage. Currently there is no OSHA record in the IMIS database that the facility had been inspected previously since the last incident. With only 12 highly dedicated and professional OSHA safety inspectors alloted for the entire state of Maine, it should not be expected that OSHA can inspect over 1,8oo manufacturing facilities on a regular reoccurring basis.

The Pellet Fuels Institute lists 24 wood pellet manufacturing facilities amongst it's membership on the east coast. Since May 2008, over 10% of east coast membership facilities have experienced fires. Additionally, last month AJ Stoves & Pellets, located in Marion, PA, not a member of PFI, experienced a dust explosion in their hopper. With these plants operating at 100% capacity, future combustible dust related fires and explosions are occurring at a rapidly alarming rate.

OSHA resources are already strained and less than 10% of the nations manufacturing plants are inspected with the unique NAICS in the wood pellet industry. Would local fire marshal inspections lessen the number of incidents while at the same time reduce the severity of combustible dust related fires and explosions? A community in New Zealand offers an excellent alternative to fire safety concerning commercial buildings, utilizing fire inspectors. Can we do the same in the United States instead of tasking OSHA to enforce building fire safety?

Recent Explosions and Fires

8/22/08-AJ Stoves & Pellets- dust explosion/hopper
8/15/08 Corinth Wood Pellets- fire/sawdust dryer
8/10/08 New England Wood Pellets- fire/pellet mill
7/15/08-AJ Stoves & Pellets- dust explosion/hopper
5/20/08 Corinth Wood Pellets- fire/exterior burner

Ethanol Plant Explosions Continue

http://www.wwmt.com/news/calhoun_1350736___article.html/county_explosion.html

With over 160 ethanol plants in operation and 43 plants under construction the hazards of explosions and fires are omnipresent. Since July 2007, six reported ethanol plant explosions and fires have taken place in the United States. Last week the Anderson Corp. plant in Sheridan Township, Michigan exploded in the dryer area causing injuries and damage to the building.

Last December the distillers grain dryer was destroyed at the Pine Lake Corn Processors facility in Steamboat, Rock Iowa causing millions of dollars in damage. Luckily no injuries or fatalities occurred. The contractors at the Princess Anne, Maryland GreenLight Biofuels biodiesel plant were not so lucky less than two months ago when one fatality and one injury occurred after an explosion while adding a methane line during hot work.

Production and refining of ethanol and biodiesel is a new industry and will require that the owners and operators implement the same safety production procedures as the petrochemical refining industry

The current learning curve is now proving to be very costly in human lives and adverse economic effects to the community.

Ethanol Plant Explosions and Fires Google Map

Metal Combustible Dust Fires Rage On

Combustible dust fires across the nation have been an ongoing trend over the past six weeks since the catastrophic Dixie Crystal Sugar Refinery explosion last month.

"MUSKEGON COUNTY — A fire that started early this morning at the Port City Industrial Finishing Inc. plant in Muskegon caused about $120,000 in damage, fire officials estimate."

In this incident lady luck held the high cards with no injuries nor fatalities at a facility that polished aluminum used for Harley-Davidson parts.

The last combustible dust incident occurred a week earlier at Custom Alloy Corporation in High Bridge, New Jersy when a fire ensued inside an enclosed dust collector in a metal-grinding room.

"Firefighters wearing protective breathing gear had to take apart the collector to extinguish burning metal particles inside. Smith said a small dust explosion occurred during the fire."

In that incident the small dust explosion occurred while fire teams were fighting the fire. Luckily, Fire Chief Jeffrey Smith's team of over 70 firefighters from the boroughs of Quakertown, Lebanon, Lebanon Township, Califon, Glen Gardner, Hampton, and High Bridge Rescue walked away unscathed.

The hazards of combustible particulate solids (CPS) and the combustible dusts that are generated in manufacturing processes can become deadly with the explosive power of gunpowder when suspended and in a confined space of the shop floor and exposed to an ignition source such as static electricity at the seemingly harmless millijoule level.

Tens of thousands of workers across the nation will arrive at work tomorrow morning with no idea of the dangers they are exposed to when handling metal, food, feed, grain, textile, paper, and other harmless bulk materials (combustible particulate solids) prior to initiating the manufacturing process. It's only when the materials in their raw form begin to be processed (combustible dust) that the dangers set in.

Thats when the dust begins to accumulate on the shop floor, ledges, hard to reach spots, and eventually suspension in the air. All that is missing for a combustible dust incident is ignition. In the right conditions with a worker walking across the shop floor, 10 millijoules of charge can be generated and touching the right spot 1000-2000 picofarads can jump across an ungrounded surface and hopefully lady luck is nearby.

Either way in some form or other, across all industries spread throughout the nation, approximately 15 of those workers will never make it to the time clock and eventually home alive to see there loved ones, lady luck won't be kind to them.

Google Map Combustible Dust Explosions and Fires