【Haichuan Case Study】Belt conveyor fire incidents that have occurred in recent years

Fire accident in conveyor belt reducer of a mine on 20111021

Preliminary cause of the accident at Xinghua Steel on 20191024 revealed: High-temperature sintered ore caused the conveyor belt to smoke and catch fire. The preliminary cause of the fire at Hebei Xinghua Steel Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xinghua Steel) has been disclosed. On October 28, according to a report from the Hebei Provincial Emergency Management Department, preliminary investigations indicate that in the early hours of October 24 (around 3:30 a.m.), during the shutdown of the sintering operation at Xinghua Steel in Wu’an City, Handan, the high-temperature sintered material caused the conveyor belts to smoke and catch fire, resulting in a fire that claimed 7 lives. This is consistent with the conclusions reached by Jiemian News reporters in previous interviews. On October 25, several industry insiders told Jiemian News that the most likely cause of the accident was a fire on the conveyor belt resulting from incomplete cooling of the sinter. According to a report from the Hebei Emergency Management Department, Xinghua Steel stopped operations at its sintering unit on the evening of October 23 in compliance with the production restrictions imposed by environmental authorities, and an accident occurred during this process. The Hebei Emergency Management Department believes that after the incident, Xinghua Steel did not report the accident to the Wu’an City Emergency Management Bureau until 9:30 on October 24, which constitutes a suspected delay in reporting. The Emergency Management Department of Hebei Province stated that this accident clearly revealed issues such as the poor safety and risk awareness of the company involved, inadequate emergency response capabilities and weak control mechanisms, a lack of safety training, as well as problems like giving orders in violation of regulations and engaging in risky rescue efforts. The details of the accident and its causes are under further investigation. “The phrase “illegal instructions and risky rescue efforts” essentially confirms that the seven people died while attempting to put out the fire. As reported by CCTV earlier, for environmental reasons, Xinghua Steel implemented staggered production schedules; on the night before the fire broke out, the production line where the fire occurred had already stopped operating, with no workers present. According to CCTV, there were three belt corridors involved in this fire, with the incidents occurring in the 1st and 3rd corridors. The company’s representative said that after the production was halted, there were no raw materials in the production line. Furthermore, there were no workers working at the time, and the workers on site suffered casualties during the fire fighting efforts.

20210716 Youxian Crusher Belt Fire Red Net Time July 16th (Correspondent Yang Chengming) At 13:29 on July 14th, the Youxian Fire Rescue Brigade received an alarm saying that the outdoor crusher conveyor belt caught fire in Taiqingtang Village, Yunqiao, Lianxing Street, Youxian County. After receiving the alarm, the Youxian Yingbin Avenue Fire Rescue Station immediately dispatched 2 water tankers, and 10 commanders rushed to the fire scene to deal with it. Upon arriving at the scene, the firefighters promptly carried out a fire assessment and found that the fire was in its declining phase, accompanied by heavy smoke. There was a large amount of flammable material around the site of the fire, and no people were trapped. Based on the situation on site, the commander promptly gave orders to deploy one water cannon, aiming it at the fire site to cool it down and extinguish the flames, while preventing the fire from spreading to surrounding areas. Through the joint efforts of all commanders and fighters, and after nearly 15 minutes of intense effort, the fire at the affected area was successfully extinguished. After the fire was extinguished, the firefighters conducted a thorough search of the site to eliminate any sources of fire that might cause it to reignite, and then they put their equipment back in order before returning to their unit. The fire department warns that the main causes of fires involving belts are friction between the belt and the drums in belt conveyors, resulting from the belt getting stuck; or when the drums and idlers of the conveyor fail to rotate or rotate at a slow speed for mechanical reasons, leading to friction between the belt and those drums and idlers that triggers a fire ； Mechanical parts must purchase flame-retardant belts with qualified quality from regular channels. They are also required to undergo flame-retardant testing at a flame-retardant belt testing station. They can only be used after passing the quality inspection.

On March 1, 2021, a conveyor belt measuring 100 meters in length and 200 square meters in area caught fire at a factory in Dongbao District, Jingmen City, Hubei Province. At 21:08 on that day, the Jinsha Road Fire Station of the Jingmen Fire and Rescue Brigade in Hubei Province immediately dispatched 3 vehicles and 15 firefighters to the scene to extinguish the fire. Upon arriving at the scene, it was found that the entire conveyor belt was burning fiercely. By asking the staff, it was learned that the fire started after working hours, when the conveyor belt stopped operating. Upon discovering the fire, they immediately called the police and tried to extinguish it using fire hydrants, but with little success. Based on the situation on site, the fire fighters began to extinguish the fire from the upper end of the conveyor belt. At 22:30, the fire was brought under control, after which a special task force was quickly formed to enter the interior of the conveyor belt via its upper end in order to continue combating any remaining flames. After nearly 2 hours of intense efforts to put out the fire, it was completely extinguished and the crisis was averted; no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

20201215: Fire broke out on a coal transport belt at a thermal power plant in Yuncheng, Shanxi

On February 24, 2021, a fire broke out at a factory in Hukou County, Jiangxi; a tower standing nearly 100 meters high was burned through

Heavy smoke filled the scene, and the fire was fierce. The firefighters promptly cut off the connection between the fire source and the rest. Upon learning that the high-pressure water guns couldn’t reach the fire at the top of the tower, firefighters put on their air respirators and climbed up the tower to spray water directly at the flames. Two hours later, the fire at the tower was significantly brought under control. But everyone noticed that the thick smoke had not disappeared. What’s going on here? Upon close inspection, it was found that beneath the conveyor belt extends a passage about 60 meters long, leading down to the basement floor. According to factory workers, nitrogen tanks are stored on the second basement floor, and a fire out of control could potentially cause an explosion. At this time, not only is the temperature inside the underground pipes extremely high, but it’s also so dark that one cannot see their hand in front of their face. Yang Guangping, a squad leader with 20 years of experience in firefighting and rescue operations, without hesitation led a team to go underground, carrying air respirators weighing over 20 pounds as well as firefighting equipment. In the thick smoke, they descended along narrow metal stairs, going in and out of the second basement floor three times in search of the source of the fire. On the other hand, the firefighting team used high-pressure water trucks to spray water from above in order to prevent the fire from spreading upward, and continuously poured foam onto the basement floor to control the fire. At the same time, the factory’s own dust and smoke extraction system was used to accelerate the removal of the dense smoke underground.