Fire in waste-fuel stores: risk management and estimation of real cost

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to improve risk management and to investigate build-up of the costs of fire in waste-fuel stores, to make the authorities and the population in general aware of the substantial monetary and non-material benefits connected with preventive measures being taken. To summarize, the results from the case studies show that the fires occurred by self-ignition of organic materials, the storage facilities were badly and/or not properly designed, and the waste fuels were not handled properly. On the basis of two case studies the main finding was that there must be one person only in charge during the fire to lead the action, and the fire brigade must not leave the area too early. Nowadays, the real cost for the fire is not calculated properly, or at all, by the wastemanagement company. It is concluded that waste-management companies, society, and insurance companies could save money by implementation of precautionary measures. Such relevant measures are reviewed. It is recommended: not to store waste fuels too high, in volumes which are too large or too close to town districts; to promote better cooperation between waste companies and the fire brigades and the local EPA; and to make insurance companies demand implementation of more security measures before signing the insurance contracts.

Literature review and hazard identification relating to fire safety in commercial plastic recycling facilities

“…38 There is limited information regarding the presence of such flammable gases in plastic recycling facilities and further work is needed, although their presence has been studied in MSW facilities. 13,37,39 The ambient air concentrations for hydrogen sulphide reported lie between 0.01 ppb to 7.6 ppm, depending on whether the measurement was taken indoors or outdoors and during the summer or winter months. 39 The concentration tends to be higher indoors and during the summer months.…”

“…Visual and thermal camera recognition systems with artificial intelligence (AI) technology could be considered for monitoring smoke and heat activity in areas such as the receiving yard, outdoor and indoor storage as well as the shredding and melting and extrusion sections. 13,16,17,57 In addition to this, manual hourly or half-hourly walkthroughs and checks can be conducted by a designated person working in each of these areas, checking for any abnormalities, smoke, smells and so on. It is noted that the effectivity of these checks will be dependent on how thoroughly the designated person carries out this.…”

“…Other recommendations include safe distances between stockpiles of material (although actual figures are not advised), availability of fire extinguishers and adequate water supply and pressure, fire protective clothing, ground staff that are trained in firefighting and adequate fencing to eliminate arson. 12,13,16,19,33 As a visual summary of the discussions of this work including the fire hazards identified and preliminary solutions proposed, are shown in Figure 7.…”

Safety at waste and recycling industry: Detection and mitigation of waste fire accidents

“…Considering that the older waste dumps are more prone to self-ignite and have low ignition temperature (Chavan et al 2019), FIFO is one key strategy, which can help in mitigating the risk of waste fires. At the waste storage site of CemMiljø A/S, both improper design and improper material management (i.e., overfilled waste site and last waste to arrive was used first), resulted in a devastating fire incident costing 1, 764 k€ (Stenis and Hogland, 2011; M.A. Ibrahim et al see Fig.…”

“…Fig. 7a is a snapshot of a waste fire incident, in which 2000 L of water per minute was applied and where the firefighters gave up after half an hour due to intense combustion heat (Stenis and Hogland, 2011). For the scenario shown in Fig.…”