Thursday, February 26, 2015

FIRE CREWS IN NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE ARE FIGHTING A BLAZE AT AN ASPHALT ROOF SHINGLE MANUFACTURING PLANT















FEBRUARY 26, 2015

EDGEMOOR, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE

The fire broke out around 3:30 p.m. Thursday inside a 5-story asphalt tank at Iko Manufacturing Inc. at 120 Hay Road in Edgemoor, county dispatchers tell NBC10.  The plant manufactures asphalt roofing shingles.   

The facility has two No. 2 fuel oil storage tanks, a 1,000-gallon tank that supplies fuel oil to an emergency generator and a 4,000-gallon tank that supplies fuel oil to the coating heater.  The plant also has several asphalt storage tanks, a truck scale, a stone crusher, hot oil heating building, boiler, generator and associated infrastructure.

Flames could be seen coming from the top of the large silver cylindrical tank.
The plant has been evacuated as a precaution, officials said. No injuries have been reported.




It's unclear what may have sparked the fire.  Asphalt storage tanks can be ignited in number of ways.  See here one of our blogs dealing with the issue.




THE DANGERS OF ASPHALT PLANTS: ANOTHER ASPHALT PLANT ON FIRE IN MISSOURI CITY, TEXAS, NOVEMBER 14 2014. AT LEAST 2 WORKERS INJURED IN ASPHALT AND CONCRETE PLANT EXPLOSION AND FIRE


http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-dangers-of-asphalt-plants-another.html


Here is another blog dealing with the explosive danger of asphalt fumes


THE EXPLOSIVE DANGER OF THE ASPHALT FUMES – A REMINDER AFTER THE ASPHALT TANK EXPLOSION AT LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN
 



Source:www.nbcphiladelphia.com