Displaying items by tag: Fire

US: Dragon Products’ Thomaston cement plant in Maine restarted production in early May 2019. A fire damaged the unit in late March 2019, according to the Penobscot Bay Pilot. Plant employees and contractors spent six weeks repairing and replacing building structures, conduit and wires, motors, gearboxes, bearings, material transport equipment and other equipment.

France: Cemex says that it will match the donations made by its employees to help restore the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The donations will be handled by the Fondation du patrimoine (French Heritage Foundation), a private organisation dedicated to saving French cultural and natural heritage. The 800-year old cathedral was devastated by fire on 15 April 2019.

In addition, Cemex will help the reconstruction efforts through its range of technical and specialised products and services, the availability of its research and development centres based in Biel and Paris and assistance with material specifications and mix designs through its laboratory services.

US: A fire has damanged Dragon Products’ Thomaston cement plant in Maine. The incident took place on evening of 26 March 2019 following a spill of fuel oil, according to the Portland Press Herald newspaper. The blaze was stopped by firefighters as it started to enter a laboratory and control rooms. No employees were injured.

Plant manager Martin Turecky said that no customers would be affected by the fire and that it was continuing to distribute cement. He added that the cement grinding plant had not been affected. An investigation into how the fire started is underway.

US: A fire at Argos USA’s Martinsburg cement plant in West Virginia is being investigated. The fire followed an explosion at the site on 25 November 2018, according to the Herald-Mail newspaper. A spokesman for the cement producer said that the incident occurred in the coal-mill dust-collector bag house. Although damage estimates are not available yet, repairs following the fire include replacing blast doors. No injuries have been reported. Production at the plant has been suspended while the cause of the fire is investigated.

US: Rapid City Fire Department crews quickly extinguished a potentially dangerous fire inside a coal hopper at the GCC Dacotah Cement Plant on 21 November 2017.
The plant suffered little damage and no injuries were reported. According to fire department spokesman Jim Bussell, crews attended the plant at 07:40.

The first crew found dark smoke coming from inside a building containing the coal hopper. Due to the inherent volatility of coal dust, the firefighters made a careful entry into the building and quickly dealt with the fires. Bussell said that GCC Dacotah's comprehensive emergency response plan, implemented after a review by both the cement plant and fire department officials in mid 2016, helped to minimise the effects of the fire. "This open dialogue and communication was key to a safe, quick response and resolution of the incident," Bussell said in a release.

Bussell added that GCC Dacotah expected no disruption to plant operations because the fire was in a part of the plant that is in the middle of a US$90m expansion project.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Tunisia: Fire fighters have controlled a fire that broke out at the Djebel El Ouest cement plant. The fire started on the ground floor of the plant, according to Tunis Afrique Presse. It then damaged electrical cabling and equipment. It is suspected to have been caused by a short circuit in an electrical machine caused by rising temperatures. No casualties have been reported.

Iraq: Islamic State militants have set the Badoosh cement plant in western Mosul on fire. Major Ali Mohsen, an officer of the Counter-Terrorism Service, said that the plant had been looted and then set on fire, according to the Iraq News newspaper. He added that security forces had killed 15 militants and wounded three others in local fighting. The clashes are part of the Islamic State group’s action against attempts by Iraqi government forces to retake the region.

US: A fire has been reported at LafargeHolcim’s Hagerstown cement plant in Maryland. An overloaded conveyor belt was the source of the blaze near the centre of the site that broke out on the evening of 20 February 2017, according to the Herald-Mail newspaper. High temperatures prevented fire fighters from tacking the fire immediately and it burned for over an hour.

UK: Firefighters were called to an incident at the Cemex South Ferriby cement plant on 17 July 2016. A spokesman for Humberside Fire and Rescue Service told the Scunthorpe Telegraph that a fire involved a fuel leak from a pipeline which spread to cables, pipework and a disused control room within the kiln room. Fire damage was reported to the pipework, cables and one wall of the control room. The remainder of the building was damaged by smoke.

Canada: A fire broke out at a coal silo at the Lehigh Cement plant in Edmonton on 10 May 2016. Four fire fighters were sent to hospital to investigate potential carbon monoxide inhalation, according to Postmedia Breaking News. An investigation is now underway to discover the cause.

Lehigh Hanson health and safety director Gerry Sanderson said that the plant wasn't shut down or evacuated. He added that the fire had been contained and that damage to the facility appeared to be minimal.