This time it is the LifeLike Products warehouse in South Baltimore. It is said to be styrofoam products again. The fire went to 4 alarms around 11:30p.m. local time.
More information can be found here . I just hope no one was hurt, and hopefully it won't drive up their prices.
Used to have a box factory that was good for a fire about every two years due to the instability of the paraffin used to water proof boxes. I'm not aware of anything in the foam making process that is that unstable. Something is starting to not smell right and it is not burnt foam.
Hmmm, this is a different building, the second one that makes the same thing from the same company. Unless a whole lot of other Baltimore buildings are burning down, I'm sure it went straight to the arson investigation team. Tony Burzio San Diego, CA [ April 12, 2005, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: Tony Burzio ]
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by Fotheringill: I am sure the fire marshals will investigate and report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hmmm, this is a different building, the second one that makes the same thing from the same company. Unless a whole lot of other Baltimore buildings are burning down, I'm sure it went straight to the arson investigation team. Tony Burzio San Diego, CA Actually used to be my line of work before I retired, Former Lead Arson and Explosives Investigator, with Hazmat and Environmental crimes thrown in for good measure. Thirty years in the field before I got tired of getting up all hours of the night. Still in the business, but from the code enforcement side now. So I'll be closely watching this one and I know some of the folks involved in the investigation since this will most likely get the attention of ATF due to being a commercial fire, and high $$ loss. [ April 12, 2005, 06:39 PM: Message edited by: John Moore ]
A little update on the LL fire. AFT is in on this one and it is the 3rd fire so far involving a company facility in the Baltimore area. And number four if you count the one in Arkansas back in the 90s.
Another twist: Maryland has fire codes that cover the entire state... with the exception of Baltimore, which has its own fire codes. Want to be careful on this one: not everyone I've spoken with is impressed with the consistency in the Baltmire FD when it comes to interpreting applicable codes...
This is very strange. Whenever there is a major fire, i'd imagine a company would go out of their way to ensure it woulden't happen at their other facilities. Now er have three fires, two major warehouses and an unknown third. This smells bad. heh heh disgruntled railfan having issues putting a decoder in? In all seriousness, i'm guessing they are going to be running into problems with their insurance pretty soon. Either someone is targeting them, or somthing isn't being don;t properly... either case, its not a good sign.
I'm just hoping a definite cause is found. And they can put a stop to this. It sounds very suspicious. And also, I'd hate for the company to somehow be financially harmed. That would pass through to us, in raised item prices. Boxcab E50
Yea, given company's (in geneeral) are taking so many shortcuts and treating their employee's like dirt these past few years you wonder if it's shotty work and/or unhappy employee's that cuase these things. Either way we are the one hurt as it will only get paid for by us in the end.
My understanding is that if it is "Cell-Foam beads that live steam is blown into the mold to expand the beads to what ever density they desire. If they are molding "Closed Cell" foam made from styrene, they melt the styrene beads, and inject soda and a mild acid along with a measured amount of liquefied styrene into the mold where the expansion takes place. If it is "Expanded Polyurethane" foam, the foaming agent, (usually nitrogen and wet steam), is injected when the Polyurethane resin and Polyisocyanates are introduced into the mold. In all three cases, it is usually a broken hydraulic hose on the injection machine that sprays hot oil onto the heating elements that causes a fire. We had a "flare-up" a couple of times on one of our machines, but they were all equipped with Co2 "Dowsers" that snuffed the flames, and the automatic shut-downs took care of the rest. Neither machine was damaged, and no one was hurt. Besides, our building was a National Strand-Steel with cement floor, so not much could burn. Our "finished" product was carried out of the molding area on conveyors through a fire wall into another building, so there was no accumulation of combustible material around the machines. Maybe LL's buildings were all old wooden construction, or they stacked the molded products around the machinery area? I would be curious to find out what happened too.
