MILLERSBURG, Ore. — Fire crews have controlled a zirconium fire that posed special challenges at a rare metals manufacturing plant in Millersburg, Ore.
Albany Fire Marshal Mike Trabue says crews responded Thursday to a building at ATI Wah Chang after a report of a combustible metals fire that was extending to a building. No one was injured.
Firefighters found several stainless steel containers of zirconium sponge on fire. Trabue says zirconium metal can react violently when it comes in contact with water so fire crews couldn’t use that. With the help of Wah Chang workers outside the building, firefighters used special extinguishing powders and sand to control the fire.
At one point, Trabue says crews were pulled out of the building due to concerns that the roof might fail. The fire finally subsided enough that plant workers were able to remove the smoldering containers from the building.
