Small fire burns itself out at Timet plant

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.

A small pipe fire at the Titanium Metals Corporation Plant did not interrupt any work processes as Clark County Firefighters waited for the fire to burn itself out Monday.

The fire started at about 11:15 a.m. when a spark from a cutting torch entered a duct, Timet spokesman Lorne Taylor said.

"A contractor was doing some demolition work on some old abandoned equipment with a cutting torch when sparks caught the duct's rubber liner on fire," Taylor said. "We almost had it out with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived, but some titanium fines caught and started a small fire in the duct."

The duct, which connected to a 10 inch diameter, 150 foot pipe, was in the plant's leaching building number eight, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said. The smoldering fines were in the pipe making it difficult for fire crews to effectively put them out, Leinbach said.

"It wasn't going anywhere so we waited it out," Leinbach said. "It was really a pretty small fire that was contained."

The fire was out by about 2 p.m. and caused no injuries or stoppage of work, Taylor said.

Timet has experienced spectacular fires in the past.

A spill of up to 1,000 pounds of molten magnesium occurred on the morning of Aug. 4, 1998, which caused the company to upgrade its equipment in the metal processing area of the plant.

On Aug. 6, 1988 an explosion and fire rocked the plant. Neither incident caused any deaths or injuries.

Firefighters cannot tackle a magnesium-fueled fire with water. Instead, they spread rock salt, which forms a solid dome over the magnesium, robbing the metal of oxygen.