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OT - Chemtool is on FIRE!!!

Short of dropping a lake on it at one time that fire is going nowhere quickly...basically the game is protecting exposures and just dumping water on it to keep it at bay. I wouldn't be surprised if it burns through the night.
 
Short of dropping a lake on it at one time that fire is going nowhere quickly...basically the game is protecting exposures and just dumping water on it to keep it at bay. I wouldn't be surprised if it burns through the night.

....and with most chemical plant fires, checking/controlling the runoff.
 
fire is about 25 north of me. local sky has been filled with black all day and the area around rockton has been evacuated. Local airport has been asked to assist with foam since water has done little to combat this fire

local news just reported that mask should be worn for most of the region for the next day or 2 since this is a chemical fire and lots of ash and particles falling from the sky
 
....and with most chemical plant fires, checking/controlling the runoff.

Unfortunately, the amount of water outflow basically goes unchecked as there's so much. It's monitored but usually handled downstream where it's more of a concentrated flow.

Here in nj we have what's called the Neptune system. It's used for large fires when there's a large body of water nearby. It consists of huge pumps or fire boats pumping water through 12" hose...basically a water main right to the fire. Manifolds are used to connect 5" ldh to the system to pumpers and ladder trucks...if you have say 10 well supplied ladders in operation you can easily flow 1500 gpm from each, so say 15000 gallons per minute. Now some of that water evaporates from the heat and some turns to steam as it hits hot objects, but a good amount runs off, especially in an industrial building with lots of metal and concrete. Let's say 4000 gallons of nasty water is pouring out the building from all directions. How do you contain it all? Basically it's an environmental shit show lol.
 
Responding to a couple of points above, everybody in the plant got out safely, and one firefighter had some minor injuries.

Precisely because of the concern about runoff, the incident command team made the decision to stop watering the fire, and let the contents of the plant simply burn out. At that point, the building was already a total loss. Even the semi-trailers parked at the loading docks were slag.

The linked article at the top of this thread had several embedded video clips besides the talking head at the scene. In particular, there were several clips taken from a helicopter, fairly widely separated in time, so you can see the progression of the fire even after the fire fighters got to work on it. In the earliest shot (it was down at the bottom of the article when I looked at it), the loading bay area is untouched; in a middle shot, the loading bay is thoroughly on fire inside, but air is still rushing in through the open doorways, pulling flame and smoke back inside, while smoke is just starting to vent from gaps in the wall sheathing and roof. In the latest shot, the loading bay is a mass of flame and the roofs and walls of the trailers parked there are starting to melt from the rear (next to the building) forwards.
 
Unfortunately, the amount of water outflow basically goes unchecked as there's so much. It's monitored but usually handled downstream where it's more of a concentrated flow.

Here in nj we have what's called the Neptune system. It's used for large fires when there's a large body of water nearby. It consists of huge pumps or fire boats pumping water through 12" hose...basically a water main right to the fire. Manifolds are used to connect 5" ldh to the system to pumpers and ladder trucks...if you have say 10 well supplied ladders in operation you can easily flow 1500 gpm from each, so say 15000 gallons per minute. Now some of that water evaporates from the heat and some turns to steam as it hits hot objects, but a good amount runs off, especially in an industrial building with lots of metal and concrete. Let's say 4000 gallons of nasty water is pouring out the building from all directions. How do you contain it all? Basically it's an environmental shit show lol.

I work up the road from there
 
I live within the evacuation zone, but I am due east of the plant, the smoke was going straight south.. pics don't do it justice when you see the fireballs and hear the explosions.
 
Unfortunately, the amount of water outflow basically goes unchecked as there's so much. It's monitored but usually handled downstream where it's more of a concentrated flow.

Here in nj we have what's called the Neptune system. It's used for large fires when there's a large body of water nearby. It consists of huge pumps or fire boats pumping water through 12" hose...basically a water main right to the fire. Manifolds are used to connect 5" ldh to the system to pumpers and ladder trucks...if you have say 10 well supplied ladders in operation you can easily flow 1500 gpm from each, so say 15000 gallons per minute. Now some of that water evaporates from the heat and some turns to steam as it hits hot objects, but a good amount runs off, especially in an industrial building with lots of metal and concrete. Let's say 4000 gallons of nasty water is pouring out the building from all directions. How do you contain it all? Basically it's an environmental shit show lol.

Local farm supply depot had bunkers of fertilizer.

Went up one night.

DEP was right there sampling air, and water.

Would set-up temp moats if needed.
 
Massive fireball explosion...is it still burning?

Yes, it is still burning. Nothing like yesterday, of course. At 6:30 this morning I watched one of the news helicopters leave heading back to Chicago, only 1 still in the air. Fire dept's kept busy putting out grass and or roof fires as the debris was going everywhere. 47 dept's were here.
 
Yes, it is still burning. Nothing like yesterday, of course. At 6:30 this morning I watched one of the news helicopters leave heading back to Chicago, only 1 still in the air. Fire dept's kept busy putting out grass and or roof fires as the debris was going everywhere. 47 dept's were here.

There was plenty of debris all over Rockton. In all of my years of living I have never seen so many fire department vehicles. It looked like a mushroom cloud from my back yard.
 
There was plenty of debris all over Rockton. In all of my years of living I have never seen so many fire department vehicles. It looked like a mushroom cloud from my back yard.

It was a non-stop parade to the race to get water, but alot of that was to put out grass fires and roof fires from the debris..
 
They had their version of the aforementioned Neptune system in use. :) with that river so close its a no brainer.

Rando question - is it called the Neptune system because of the Neptune (NJ) inlet or is it called the "Neptune system" 'cuz lots of water / God of the sea / Poseidon (Roman version) ? Or Both ?

Your first post about that kinda peeked my interest.

The fire looks absolutely awful - melted buildings - unreal.
 
Rando question - is it called the Neptune system because of the Neptune (NJ) inlet or is it called the "Neptune system" 'cuz lots of water / God of the sea / Poseidon (Roman version) ? Or Both ?

Your first post about that kinda peeked my interest.

The fire looks absolutely awful - melted buildings - unreal.

I'm guessing God of the sea...Neptune is the name kidde gave to the system. Here's an article from nj.com

A spectacular display of waterfront firefighting capacity - nj.com
 








 
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