• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

Not a good day in Illinois

Here's another longer video:

It's hard to believe a plant like that doesn't have a very effective fire protection system installed. You also have to wonder what they were really manufacturing because most lubricating products are not that extremely flammable that they would cause a massive explosion like this.
 
Well there are some things that
just can’t stop.

Maybe a little separation of materials might help.

Plus design for the hazard

Assess the hazard each year for changes and adjust!!!! The protection
 
cda said:
Well there are some things that
just can’t stop.

Maybe a little separation of materials might help.

Plus design for the hazard

Assess the hazard each year for changes and adjust!!!! The protection
Click to expand...
Those are definitely some of my thoughts. I did a lot of fire protection system design at a synthetic rubber manufacturing plant from one of America's big tire makers. We had a multitude of highly flammable solvents, self igniting catalysts, etc. but never had a significant incidents. Everything was compartmentalized and surrounded by high volume deluge and foam systems. We had pump capacity in excess of 20,000 GPM, water storage of over 3 million gallons and retention basin for at least 5 million gallons to collect runoff.

Looking around the facility I don't see any large water storage tanks nor any other obvious fire protection systems.
 
So communities grow around some of these places, that maybe should not have any housing in a few miles???

So will the town let them build back????



www.channel3000.com

PHOTOS: Industrial fire crews work to put out Rockton chemical fire

A private industrial firefighting company is working Tuesday to put out the remaining fire at the Chemtool plant in Rockton, Illinois, more than 24 hours after the fire started burning.
www.channel3000.com www.channel3000.com
 
ADAguy said:
What of annual fire inspections in this city?
Click to expand...
I don't know the codes in the city that this facility was located in but in many areas industrial buildings are not subject to annual local fire inspections. I have worked at several major facilities in various states including a chemical plant and none of them had annual fire inspections by local authorities.
 
When it has been there
ADAguy said:
What of annual fire inspections in this city?
Click to expand...

When it has been there for years,,,

West, Texas

And the city let other structures grow around it,,,

West, Texas

And codes have changed over the years and hazards were not upgraded/ protected,,,

West, Texas

And city May have not known how to deal with the hazard

You kind of get this.

Not sure how much annual inspection would have helped,, if they were not going to require retrofit or other types of hazard protection
 
Ok Illinois ???

www.usatoday.com

1,000 homes evacuated after pounds of lithium batteries explode in old Illinois paper mill

A blaze caused by as many as 200,000 exploding lithium batteries has caused at least 1,000 homes to be evacuated in Morris, Illinois.
www.usatoday.com

For the second day, clouds of smoke filled the air in Morris as 180,000 to 200,000 pounds of lithium batteries continue to explode.

Crews and the city were unaware of the batteries when firefighters first responded

"I do not know how you just store that many batteries and have no one know about it," he said.

More city and county officials out of a job???
 
Lithium is a combustible (maybe even flammable) metal and is water reactive, so it takes some specialized thinking to protect any sort of quantity. I think most people (architects, BOs) don't realize that and think that batteries should be pretty harmless, but it's not true.
 
Sleepy said:
Lithium is a combustible (maybe even flammable) metal and is water reactive, so it takes some specialized thinking to protect any sort of quantity. I think most people (architects, BOs) don't realize that and think that batteries should be pretty harmless, but it's not true.
Click to expand...
If you took basic chemistry you would know that. Chem is an undergrad requirement at most Arch schools.
 
ADAguy said:
If you took basic chemistry you would know that. Chem is an undergrad requirement at most Arch schools.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Although, that was about 100 years ago, it seems.

Also, I suspect that a lot of building owners and operators don't understand either and may not realize they need a change of occupancy when they get a new tenant or change operations so don't consult an architect or the building official. It seems like a problem.
 
Sleepy said:
Fair enough. Although, that was about 100 years ago, it seems.

Also, I suspect that a lot of building owners and operators don't understand either and may not realize they need a change of occupancy when they get a new tenant or change operations so don't consult an architect or the building official. It seems like a problem.
Click to expand...
Yea, well I love it when the person the village has placed in charge of issuing the "tenant and Use" or "zoning and use" form doesn't understand chapter 3 of the IBC nor the existing built buildings occupancy. By the time it gets to my desk I have to explain why they cant just move in and need large sums of cash to remodel the space.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cda
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top