Commercial heat treater SLH (Spezialnarterei Lohe GmbH & CO) was almost completely destroyed by a quench oil fire yesterday in what was a devasting fire. This is what local news reports had to say about the fire;

“The cause of Saturday’s major fire at a metal processing plant in Remscheid is still unclear. Fire investigators are looking at the possibility that the cause was arson although that will not be known for some time. The fire was so bad that the building, which is in danger of collapsing will have to be demolished. What is known is that the fire did start in a quench oil tank which would appear to largely rule out arson. The owner of the company already estimates the property damage at more than 10 million euros (roughly $10 million USD). 150 emergency personnel were busy extinguishing the fire.

One employee, who was alone in the plant, was able to escape into the open air in time. Firefighters initially focused on cooling huge gas tanks which were filled with 20,000 liters of nitrogen and 5,000 liters of methanol. The emergency services were then able to bring the fire in the completely destroyed building under control. Due to the intense heat generated by the fire, the supporting steel structure of the factory building was severely deformed.

Large quantities of quench oils had also leaked out. A large proportion of these oils had entered the sewage system together with the extinguishing water, but could later be intercepted and disposed of at the wastewater treatment plant. On the site, a specialist company has begun to vacuum up the residue. The Environmental Agency is now investigating the extent to which the oils have seeped into the soil and need to be removed.”

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