IREFIGHTERS have tackled a fire following an explosion in a silo at a factory in southern Spain this evening (Friday).
A silo of sunflower seeds exploded at the Koipe factory in Andujar (Jaen) that left four workers with minor injuries including smoke inhalation and shock.
Sheets of metal were sent flying through the air after the blast and it took firefighters two hours to bring the blaze under control.
A crane was brought in to help remove the metal sheets that were in danger of falling.
Bibby’s managed it again in Liverpool in 1930, when an explosion in the top floor of a silo building killed 11 and injured 32. Rice flour, sunflower seeds and soya bean meal were used in the processes.
Self heating of the sunflower seedcake seems to have been the cause of an initial fire, but the heat spread between silos, and initiated an explosion, when hanging dust fell, while an adjacent silo was being emptied. Among the recommendations was ‘the provision of recording thermometers on the silo
Historical UK reports
William Primrose and Sons Ltd operated a provender mill in Glasgow which exploded on the 10th Nov 1911, killing 5 people including 3 children playing nearby. Their grinding process was very dusty and had no dust collection system. The room was lit by naked gas lights, and one was on such a long rubber hose that it could be moved around the room. Dust accumulations on the beams were not cleared adequately.
Exactly two weeks after the Glasgow explosion, the premises of J Bibby and Sons in Liverpool experienced the same fate, only this time the toll was 39 dead and 101 injured, figures hard to imagine in factories which today run with such minimal labour. Bibby’s were a more go-ahead firm, with electric lighting and a sprinkler system. They handled cotton cake and assorted meals. The machinery was belt driven, and the official report supposes that a dust cloud was formed when a belt broke. The ignition source was not possible to identify with certainty, but matches and electrical equipment were the most likely cause of the spark.