While the fire self-extinguished, it was near the furnace room where the facility stores molten aluminum, which isn’t compatible with water and some foams used by firefighters, said Madison Twp. Fire and EMS Capt. Michael K. Watson.
“The molten aluminum reacts very violently with water and certain kinds of foams,” he said. “So we would’ve had a lot of issues if it had been in that room, applying any kind of agent to put it out.”
Madison Twp. asked other surrounding departments to respond and supply what they could, but Watson said none of the area fire departments had the foam needed to put out a molten aluminum fire.
A statewide alert was issued to get the foam, but the fire put itself out and the alert was canceled.
Yamada has powdered extinguisher, but Watson said it wouldn’t be enough to handle a large fire.
New Madison will look at getting a compatible foam to have on hand, he added.
The fire resulted in minor damage. No injuries were reported. Yamada had evacuated workers by the time firefighters were on scene.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
“The only thing we can guess on at this point is that overtime oil and stuff in the air will accumulate on insulation and we think that flash booted the heat, and once it burned off the insulation is nonflammable, so it put itself out,” Watson said.
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