Seven Workers Hurt in Blast at Metal Recycling Company; Four Workers Critically Burned Niles, IL, United States

----- Information Added: Thursday, January 13, 2000 - 8:31 PM ----- The explosion at the metal recycling company, Electronic Recovery Specialists, left four workers critically burned and three others injured.

No official cause has been determined. There are conflicting theories about the cause being advanced.

Thomas Ahern of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said the explosion and fire took place at a newly installed machine used to strip copper off the tops of military shell casings.

Ahern said "somehow [the machine] sparked some type of explosion".

Ahern, along with Niles police and fire investigators, said the firm handled no live ammunition. they added it was possible some residual powder in the shells, such as magnesium, may have detonated if it came in contact with sparks from machine.

But the company's attorney, ronald L. Bell, said there was not enough magnesium to tip off the roof and blow the brick facade off the building. He believes the spark came from the machine and hit a gas pipe in the ceiling.

But a spokesperson for the company that supplies the firm with natural gas say she doubts the accident involved natural gas.

"The information we have from the Fire Department is that neither natural gas nor our system are involved," said Jane Wiedmeyer of Nicor Gas.

The employees who were most seriously injured had been taking aprt the heads of shells in the warehouse when the explosion occurred, attorney Bell said.

Electronic Recovery gleans valuable metals from used electronics and demilitarized munitions.

A representative of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was on hand to look at whether the munitions were being properly stored, said John Maronic, assistant area director for OSHA's area office

Link to story:

http://www.humanitarian.net/challenges.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 14, 2000

Answers

Call me cynical, but I cannot believe that a spark hitting a pipe could start a gas explosion.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), January 14, 2000.

Hi ron, if you read the story carefully you will note that no cause has been established for the explosion. If natural gas was involved, what caused the leak?

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 14, 2000.

This sounds like a Y2K related problem.

-- (jimx@treftor.net), January 14, 2000.

The only reason I am responding to this is because it occured about 10 miles away from me.

it was covered in a previous thread: http://hv.greenspun.com/ bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002Igj

There is no apparent relation to Y2K computer data problems.

Nor is there any data to implicate a Natural Gas Failure due to Y2K computer data problems. the "natural gas" blame stemmed from the Companies' ATTORNEY who was ON THE SCENE and SPECULATED that it MIGHT HAVE been a natural gas leak. He doesn't know, HE'S AN ATTORNEY.

please see the thread cited.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), January 14, 2000.

Looks more like it's a Y2K related problem, but being covered up. Most of the rest of the story sounds like typical spin.

-- (jeffDD@ticon.net), January 14, 2000.

Here's the latest gas explosion. 3 dead in Dallas:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000114/ts/explosion_house_1.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 14, 2000.

Carl-

what is with you and your fascination with gas explosions?

and you don't have the courtesy to put "OT" in front of the subject.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), January 14, 2000.