Welding work sparks fire at Bethlehem Steel Corp. blast furnace - UPDATE
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by Vacant NJ
Welding work sparks fire at Bethlehem Steel Corp. blast furnace - UPDATE
Published: Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 3:00 PM Updated: Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 7:54 PM
No, the dormant fires of the Bethlehem Steel Corp. blast furnaces were not re-lit.
This afternoon's fire at one of the iconic blast furnaces was a small affair, accidentally sparked by maintenance workers, according to Bethlehem Deputy Fire Commissioner Bob Novotnack.
Sparks and hot metal from welding work fell onto residual grease inside blast furnace C, Novotnack said. The grease caught fire, liquefied and spread.
Dark black plumes of acrid smoke poured from the center portion of the 203-foot-tall furnace at 1:30 p.m. The fire was out in 30 minutes and crews waited on site for the metal to cool, Novotnack said.
No one was injured.
Novotnack said the furnace was not damaged. He and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan wondered aloud if a fire even could damage the 69-year-old furnace.
Mike Piersa, of the National Museum of Industrial History, believes the furnaces are pretty sturdy.
"It's going to take a lot to destroy a furnace," Piersa said.
Callahan said he wasn't worried about the hulking furnaces, but instead the millions of dollars of investment that has been poured into the former industrial site that is owned by the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. The C furnace is just east of the Levitt Pavilion at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.
The ArtsQuest farmers market and Oktoberfest will go on as scheduled, according to ArtsQuest spokesman Mark Demko. Work on a visitors center and other construction near the furnaces continued through the fire.
Piersa said grease is all over inside the furnaces. He helped firefighters figure out what might fuel a fire inside the structure.
Accessing the furnace from the river side, firefighters put water and a dried chemical on the flames.
About 1 o'clock this afternoon, flames were visible inside the furnace and a massive plume of black smoke was being emitted. SteelStacks and PBS 39 were not evacuated.
Sands employees were doing the maintenance work, Novotnack said, and it isn't uncommon for various crews to be working on the site.
Piersa said the other buildings on The Steel site are more vulnerable to fire damage, and initially he worried about the fire spreading, though it was obvious when he first arrived and spoke to firefighters that he was nervous about a fire in the big blast furnaces.
"It's like an industrial cathedral," Piersa said of the furnace.
Link to original article: www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index...orp_blast_fur_2.html
Published: Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 3:00 PM Updated: Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 7:54 PM
No, the dormant fires of the Bethlehem Steel Corp. blast furnaces were not re-lit.
This afternoon's fire at one of the iconic blast furnaces was a small affair, accidentally sparked by maintenance workers, according to Bethlehem Deputy Fire Commissioner Bob Novotnack.
Sparks and hot metal from welding work fell onto residual grease inside blast furnace C, Novotnack said. The grease caught fire, liquefied and spread.
Dark black plumes of acrid smoke poured from the center portion of the 203-foot-tall furnace at 1:30 p.m. The fire was out in 30 minutes and crews waited on site for the metal to cool, Novotnack said.
No one was injured.
Novotnack said the furnace was not damaged. He and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan wondered aloud if a fire even could damage the 69-year-old furnace.
Mike Piersa, of the National Museum of Industrial History, believes the furnaces are pretty sturdy.
"It's going to take a lot to destroy a furnace," Piersa said.
Callahan said he wasn't worried about the hulking furnaces, but instead the millions of dollars of investment that has been poured into the former industrial site that is owned by the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. The C furnace is just east of the Levitt Pavilion at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.
The ArtsQuest farmers market and Oktoberfest will go on as scheduled, according to ArtsQuest spokesman Mark Demko. Work on a visitors center and other construction near the furnaces continued through the fire.
Piersa said grease is all over inside the furnaces. He helped firefighters figure out what might fuel a fire inside the structure.
Accessing the furnace from the river side, firefighters put water and a dried chemical on the flames.
About 1 o'clock this afternoon, flames were visible inside the furnace and a massive plume of black smoke was being emitted. SteelStacks and PBS 39 were not evacuated.
Sands employees were doing the maintenance work, Novotnack said, and it isn't uncommon for various crews to be working on the site.
Piersa said the other buildings on The Steel site are more vulnerable to fire damage, and initially he worried about the fire spreading, though it was obvious when he first arrived and spoke to firefighters that he was nervous about a fire in the big blast furnaces.
"It's like an industrial cathedral," Piersa said of the furnace.
Link to original article: www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index...orp_blast_fur_2.html
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