Lumber plant dust explosion injures one in US

An explosion at a lumber plant in Alabama, US injured one person on March 5. The incident happened when workers turned a dust collector on after performing maintenance.

Representative image: Shutterstock

The blast happened at Buchanan Lumber Company in the city of Aliceville at around 15:50 local time. The Aliceville Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post that a crew had been working on a piece of dust collector equipment that connected two silos when the blast happened.

The equipment had been turned off for maintenance repairs since it was damaged in a previous fire in December 2021. The fire department said the repair crew had finished repairing the equipment and were cleaning up tools when they turned the equipment on for a test run when it exploded.

Firefighters arrived the scene and found the equipment engulfed in flames. Due to other nearby equipment being at risk of also becoming engulfed, the Aliceville Fire Department called in two other local fire departments to help tackle the blaze.

One person was injured as a result of the explosion. They were taken to a nearby hospital where their status is unknown.

According to its website, Buchanan Lumber Company has a 110,000 square metre facility which includes a strip flooring line and flooring mill, as well as several sawmills.

In September 2021, an explosion at a wood manufacturing facility in Quebec, Canada injured eight people. The exact cause of the blast and fire are unknown, however repairs were being conducted at the time of the incident.

 

Article Source: https://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article/189870/Lumber-plant-dust-explosion-injures-one-in-US.aspx

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