Even a manufacturing plant that makes lighters is not immune from fire risks, and a Zippo factory in Pennsylvania found this out when a dust fire occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The fire was started in an exterior dust collection system that was used to collect dust from the buffing department, and luckily the dust collector was located on the outside of the building.
The building was evacuated when the fire was noticed, and the president and CEO of Zippo Manufacturing Co. said that “the reason why it originally appeared to be worse, we think, is because so much smoke entered the facility”. While the fire was contained to the dust collection system, the buildup of smoke had nowhere to go except back through the ductwork and into the building.
The fire was extinguished and the smoke was cleared within about an hour and a half, and as the fire department declared sections of the building safe workers were able to resume operations. Zippo’s president and CEO said that “Obviously my first concern is to make sure it is safe before anyone goes back into that facility”, but said that because fire suppression systems worked and the fire department arrived quickly everyone would be able to be back at work the next day.
The CEO explained that this type of fire risk is “somewhat inherent with the buffing process”, but that they would work to “figure out a corrective action to avoid something like this happening again”. The fire department said there was no structural damage, and that the fire appeared to be accidental in nature, but it is still being investigated.
