2 burned in fire at Howmet plant
Titanium dust ignites at Howmet in Weathersfield
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WEATHERSFIELD -- Firefighters from four Trumbull County communities worked Tuesday to battle a fire at the Howmet Aerospace plant, 1000 Warren Ave., that began when titanium dust caught a vacuum truck and a hopper on fire.
Howmet supplies titanium alloys for the aerospace industry.
But because titanium dust is a magnesium-based product, it is highly flammable and it cannot be extinguished with water, according to Weathersfield fire Chief Tom Lambert.
The fire began in a vacuum hose when a contracting company was removing dust particles from a hopper in the plant. The flames moved from the hose back into the plant area, damaging some equipment, according to Lambert.
The plant contacted Trumbull County 911, which contacted the Weathersfield Fire Department at 8:09 a.m. Fire departments in Lordstown, Niles and Howland responded to the emergency call.
"The Lordstown Fire Department has F500 EA, an encapsulator agent used for magnesium-based fires," Lambert said. "They recently began carrying it.
"Typically, we used salt to smother these types of fires," he continued. "The salt melts, crystallizes and smothers the flames."
Even with the use of the agent, Lambert said firefighters used 15,000 pounds of salt to extinguish the fire.
Two of the contractors extracting the dust from the hopper received non-life-threatening burns, with one receiving burns to the face. Both of the contractors were transported by ambulance to hospital burn units, and, according to Lambert, are in stable condition. One of the fire victims then was transferred to a burn unit in Akron.
No firefighters were injured.
Lambert said the fire caused a significant amount of smoke but, because of its location within the plant, it did not present any problem for residents in nearby homes.
"It was a medium-sized fire, but because it was magnesium-based dust we were concerned because it is highly combustible," Lambert said.
Company representatives called the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, so an investigation can be conducted.
While the four fire departments worked to battle the fire, Austintown and Girard fire departments monitored those communities in case something else occurred that required firefighters.
"We appreciate the mutual aid help we received from all of our fire departments," Lambert said.
The fire departments were at the plant about 2 1/2 hours, he said.
A company spokesman said the dust-collection system is located outside the plant. It is not expected to have an effect on operation of the facility.