Blaze damages
Wah Chang
By Jennifer Rouse
Albany Democrat-Herald
Workers returned to Wah Chang on their normal schedules
today after tanks of a flammable solvent ignited Wednesday night, starting a
fire that caused $500,000 to $750,000 worth of damage.
Callers reported seeing an explosion and fire visible from Interstate 5 as
hundred-foot plumes of fire jetted skyward and heavy smoke filled the area
surrounding the plant.
The fire started around 11:30 p.m. in storage tanks
containing MIBK, a solvent used in Wah Chang metals processing. MIBK fires
cannot be extinguished with water.
No one was injured.
The Linn-Benton and Eugene Region hazmat teams were called out. Albany Fire
Department spokeswoman Wanda Omdahl said the fire was considered a
hazardous-materials incident, but nothing harmful was released into the air or
water. "Environmentally, everything is fine," she said.
The Albany Fire Department used foam to fight the solvent fire but didn't have
enough, so the Salem Fire Department brought more. Firefighters used water to
protect the surrounding buildings.
The Federal Aviation Administration in Seattle was notified, and air space up to
2,000 feet altitude was shut down for a radius of three miles from Wah Chang.
Nearby railroad tracks were closed as well.
Wah Chang spokesman Jim Denham said methyl isobutyl ketone, or MIBK, is a
solvent used in the process in which zirconium is separated from hafnium.
Denham said neighbors of the plant have nothing to be concerned about in regard
to the MIBK fire. "It's not particularly toxic or dangerous," he said.
The MIBK is stored in 5,000- to 10,000-gallon tanks surrounded by a 20-foot by
40-foot berm. The damage was almost entirely contained to the storage tanks and
the berm, though some nearby equipment and piping was damaged. "The fire
department did an excellent job of containing it to that area," Denham
said.
The separation process will be shut down for a few days, Denham said.
"We're in the process of trying to assess what repairs will be
necessary," he said. "We don't anticipate any significant disruption
of production or business."
Other processes were scheduled to proceed "pretty close to normal" he
said.
Between 50 and 60 firefighters from Albany, Jefferson, Scio, Lebanon, Corvallis
and Salem were at the fire. It was declared under control at 1:47 a.m.
Omdahl said the cause won't be determined for at least a day or two. About 100
people were working at the plant when the fire started. Investigators will begin
interviews when those workers are back on shift this evening.
