Ladle crane spill aftermath - video

**Altair** · Mar 24, 2020, 04:42 PM

Ladle crane spill aftermath.

Previously:

Forklift foundry furnace explosion - GIF
Steel mill wet charge explosion - video
Giant molten metal spill at steel mill - GIF
Steel mill explosion - GIF

**jdurand** · Mar 24, 2020, 05:02 PM

Turn off the gas and power and everyone goes home until it cools down?

**greenie** · Mar 25, 2020, 08:29 PM

Hope the crane driver was OK, lot's of flame and smoke directly at the drivers cab.

**MeJasonT** · Mar 26, 2020, 02:58 AM

I would imagine applying water cooling would have a disasterous effect. At some point extinguishing the fires and cooling the 1400 deg C molten steel might be a good idea as the building structure is not designed to withstand that sort of temperature. Concrete floors dont like heat, any moisture or air bubbles and it has a tendancy of throwing parts of itself around the building. There is also an elastic point at which the buildings roof I beams will beging to sag and the roof collapse in on itself. I have seen what happened in a food factory packing hall when a pallet took fire inside a shrink wrap oven, it was made worse by the forklift driver attempting to take the burning pallet outside. In that incident the i beam spans in the roof got so hot they sagged and touched the floor in the middle of the factory.
Its gonna be a bitch to clean up, like 6" steel plate encapsulating everthing, Its got to be a shutdown to gas axe all the crap out of there.

**Elizabeth Greene** · Mar 27, 2020, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by MeJasonT

I would imagine applying water cooling would have a disasterous effect.

It may or may not. The water will instantly flash into steam and increase in volume about 600x. If that steam has a way to escape it's not a problem, like rain on lava. Inside a closed factory it could burn people and melt things.

Once everyone is evacuated you might try misting or fogging to help cool the air and prevent secondary fires, but you definitely wouldn't just hose it down.

**MeJasonT** · Mar 27, 2020, 02:12 PM

As I thought, its nice getting your feedback. I always read such scientific and accurate answers from you Elizabeth, i know you know your stuff.
I have always been curious why the US fire fighters dont apply water to home/business fires until they have carried out a rescue. I know its for a similar reason, ie to not super heat the environment which may become un survivable for the victims. We dont follow the same procedures here in the UK that i know of - hence the curiosity. Please, all keep safe and well.