Flames of burning rubber dust shoot out of ventilation vents at the Jasper Rubber Products Plant
Plastic is made from the byproducts of the petroleum refining process, with over 190 million barrels of liquid petroleum gases being used in the plastics and rubber industries. Rubber is made from similar petroleum refining byproducts, with up to 7 gallons of crude oil being needed to make a single car tire.
Since they are made from oil byproducts it is no surprise that plastic and rubber products are flammable, and manufacturers are at a significant risk of a dust explosion. In February 2015 there were two separate manufacturing plant fires that show the fire hazard that rubber manufacturing can create.
Burning rubber dust sends flames shooting into the sky during the Jasper Rubber Plant fire.
On February 6th the Jasper Rubber Products plant in Jasper, Indiana had a dust explosion and fire caused by a buildup of rubber dust. Luckily, the explosion occurred in the plant’s dust collection system and was brought under control before moving into the building. The fire chief at the scene said that if it had reached the inside of the plant it would have been ‘devastating’.
The rubber dust was so flammable that even after the initial explosion flames continued to shoot 20 feet into the air out of a 28 foot tall exhaust stack. It took 5 fire trucks and 30 firefighters over 2 hours to control the blaze.
Just 2 days later, the Universal Rubber Products manufacturing plant near Charlotte, North Carolina burst into flames when a fire outside was able to move into the building. It took over 100 firefighters to control the blaze, with fire trucks having to come from other agencies to assist. It took so much water to put out the blaze that the firefighters had to resort to using water from residential swimming pools to provide enough.
Clouds of thick smoke cover the area during the Universal Rubber Products plant fire.
These recent explosions add to the numerous past plastic and rubber dust explosions, some of which were fatal. When dealing with a material as combustible as rubber and plastic dust, companies should take extra precautions to avoid an incident like these.