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| Credit: Charlotte Fire |
Charlotte firefighters battled a two-alarm fire Tuesday morning at a truck cleaning facility in northwest Charlotte.
Firefighters said they encountered heavy flames shooting through the roof of the warehouse on Tar Heel Road when they arrived around 7:30 a.m.
According to a news release, a tanker trailer had caught fire inside the warehouse.
An employee who answered the phone Tuesday confirmed the fire took place at the Express Container Service truck-cleaning facility at 1730 Tar Heel Road. The employee declined to give additional information.
Reached by phone, an employee for JCI Jones Chemicals, Inc., which maintains a chemical plant on the same road, told WFAE their warehouse was untouched by the fire.
Fire investigators say the fire was accidental, and was likely caused by the improper thawing of a known chemical, which resulted in a "violent polymerization." Damage was estimated at $425,000.
I would like to know what kind of violent polymerization causes a large fire? That feels unusual...
Polymerizations are generally exothermic (can't be entropically favorable of course) and self-accelerate, so one running away isn't crazy.
ReplyDeleteThe "thawing" bit stood out to me in this. I wonder if it was acrylic acid? It freezes at 14 °C (Charlotte is well below that) and is particularly hazardous as a solid because its crystal structure makes it perfectly pre-aligned for polymerization. Imagine if it arrived frozen there is some particular way to thaw it safely.
Good observation! I saw "improper thawing" and pictured someone applying localized heat and making a small area way too hot, but your idea is most likely correct.
Deletehttps://chemjobber.blogspot.com/2016/06/process-wednesday-huh-thats-lot-of.html
ReplyDeleteOther chemicals might behave similarly, so the "never" list might apply to others. - Hap