【Haichuan Chemical Accident Updates】It’s construction that’s to blame again! Fire broke out involving PPE plastic during the demolition of old wastewater treatment facilities at a wastewater treatment plant in Guangzhou

According to reports from the fire department in Wuhan, Hubei Province, at around 9 a.m. today, a fire broke out in the wastewater treatment facilities of a wastewater treatment plant under construction on Guanggu Avenue in the East Lake High-Tech Development Zone of Wuhan. Thick smoke rose to heights of several dozen meters. Firefighters arrived on the scene and managed to put out the fire within just 3 minutes. The point of origin of the fire was a tank used for treating sewage, which was under construction; the material that caught fire was a \"Maple Leaf Fan\", a plastic product. It is reported that the pool is about 8 meters deep and has an area of approximately 30 square meters. Workers were installing equipment at the middle level of the pool when a fire broke out suddenly; the flames spread very rapidly, and there were no fire extinguishing devices on site, so the workers quickly called the police. The workers working at the bottom of the pool immediately evacuated upon seeing this.

At around 21:00 on April 3, 2019, the 119 emergency call center in Taixing City, Jiangsu Province, received a report that a fire had broken out in the wastewater treatment workshop at Jiangsu Zhongdan Chemical Technology Co., Ltd., which is located in the Taixing Economic Development Zone. Upon receiving the call, the Taixing 119 Command Center immediately dispatched fire and rescue forces to the scene to handle the situation. The scene was reached at 21:05; the fire was brought under control at 21:20, and the flames were extinguished at 21:25. Based on the preliminary on-site inspection, the wastewater tank in the sewage treatment workshop contained mainly water, toluene, tar, and a small amount of spent catalyst (Raney nickel). According to the experts’ preliminary analysis, the spontaneous combustion of Raney nickel caused the detonation of the toluene. There were no injuries at the scene. According to tests conducted by the Taizhou Environmental Monitoring Center in Jiangsu Province, at 21:45, the VOC concentration 1,000 meters downwind was 0.142 mg/m3, which is below the limit set by the indoor air quality standards (GB/T18883-2002); thus, there was no impact on the air quality in the surrounding area. The rain inlets in the factory area were promptly sealed, and all fire-fighting water was directed into the emergency tank, without being discharged into the external environment. Subsequent encryption monitoring is carried out continuously, with results published in a timely manner.