Fires at Scrap Yards: Causes and how to Prevent Them

thescrapper Metal Recycling Information

Scrapyard fires can be really tough to deal with, and not to mention the amount of damage they can cause.

Nowadays, they are becoming more and more common, and we get to witness at least one such incident every year.

Large amounts of recycling materials can turn into ashes within a matter of a few minutes, thus causing a damage of thousands of dollars. So, what are the real causes behind such huge fires?

Keep reading below in order to know more about scrapyard fires.

Causes:

Well, there can be several reasons that can lead up to a fire such as, during the shredding of cars and other vehicles, the fuel cylinders may ignite and turn into flames.

Moreover, metals are good conductors of heat, as well as electricity. So, they have high tendency of catching flames and turn it into a real giant fire.

With these, the paints applied to car bodies and the plastic trims, they can be explosive as well if comes in contact with flames.

In one scrapyard fire incident, the start of the fire began when a car containing a lithium battery was thrown into an electrical waste.

Furthermore, short-circuits can also lead to the emergence of a big fire.

Prevention:

Now, how to prevent these fires and the damage they cause? Well, you can install thermal cameras that can sense the temperature change before the fire starts. Hence, save yourself from big damage.

Also, ensure an adequate amount of water supply and keep the extinguishers at an easy reach, so in case of a spark, it can quickly be put out.

Make sure that you pile up the waste at a distance of at least 6 meters from each other so that the fire cannot spread.