Wednesday, April 8, 2015

PROPANE TANK EXPLOSIONS SUSPECTED IN FIRE ACME GALVANIZING ON MILWAUKEE'S SOUTH SIDE










MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

Cleanup continued Monday afternoon after a two-alarm fire and propane tank explosions ripped through an industrial building on Milwaukee's south side.

The fire was reported at 7:52 a.m. Monday, March 16, 2015 at Acme Galvanizing, 2730 S. 19th St., near Pulaski Park, and plumes of smoke from the fire could be seen from a distance. No injuries were reported.

Acme Galvanizing has an 80,000-square-foot facility on the property that specializes in zinc electroplating and hot-dip galvanizing.

The fire was concentrated in a separate building where propane and other chemicals were stored and away from the main processing facility, said Deputy Chief Terry Lintonen.

The first-responding firefighters saw heavy fire and continuing explosions when they arrived and quickly called a second alarm, Lintonen said. 

The small storage building was destroyed, and damage estimates were not immediately available, Lintonen said.

The main building was burned slightly on the eaves, but was not substantially damaged, he said.

The department's hazardous materials crew was called to the scene, because such businesses tend to have a lot of chemicals on the premises that are caustic or poisonous not only in water, but also possibly if they burn, Lintonen said. The Hazmat team helped identify the chemicals and monitored the situation, he said.

As a precaution, firefighters and police officers evacuated some of the buildings that were downwind and within a block of Acme, Lintonen said. The fire was deemed under control at 9:07 a.m., he said.

Several other agencies also monitored the fire, including the state Department of Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

The cause remains under investigation by the Milwaukee Fire and Police departments.

About four dozen workers, most wearing red hard hats, gathered behind police tape as firefighters fought the blaze.

One worker said the incident took place when a worker was filling the propane and acetylene tanks and one of the tanks ignited. All the workers escaped safely, and as they fled they could hear the tanks exploding one at a time, employee Mike Kruckebrg said.

"I ran over with a fire extinguisher. It was too far gone at that point," employee John Trapp said.

Trapp said at that point they started evacuating.

"We just got everybody out," he said.
"I just saw all these guys running out and thought, 'Are they on strike,'" said Mary Lou Boettcher, who works in data entry and invoicing at the firm. "Somebody said, 'No, it's a fire, and we ran out.'"

Source: http://www.jsonline.com