Putting the Blast in Blast Furnace

[SpaceMouse]

 

[IronBeltKen]

Chip,

That's the 'B' blast furnace at Severstal Steel (formerly Rouge, formerly Ford Motor Co.) in Dearborn, MI. They were planning to permanently shut down that unit and demolish it in a few weeks anyway, so this event just expedited their plans. Miraculously nobody was killed or permanently maimed; but the poor bastard driving by in the charred van (5th photo from top) got 3rd-degree burns on his left hand and forearm

I toured that facility in April 2003 with the RRISIG, shot photos of a bottle car from that area where all the burned-up vehicles are. Just goes to show what an incredibly dangerous place a steel mill can be!

 

[CanuckMark]

Did it blow up or just catch fire?

Aye carumba - there's a modelling opportunity.


EDIT: Guess it was an explosion: article


Mark

 

[IronBeltKen]

Did it blow up or just catch fire?

Mark, the inner lining was worn very thin, to the point that it was weaker than the relief valves. Apparently some half-melted ore got stuck at the top, then fell down all at once - a fairly common occurrence. But the neglected, weakened furnace wall couldn't withstand the sudden increase in pressure.

 

[CanuckMark]

Re pic #2: Guess porta-johns can handle an explosion better than a Dodge Neon.

Mark

 

[Selector]

I could have sworn I shut off the element before I left last night.

I suspect that if a chunk of material did fall, it either bared the weak part of its supporting wall, which quckly burnt through, or it took the weak part with it...either way, the results here are sobering.

 

[UP2CSX]

Well, to show you what a moron I am, I originally thought this was a facility that melted old cars for steel. It's a good example of why we buy so much steel from Brazil though. They blow something up, pay the widow $200, and then it's business as usual. I suspect somebody is going to get more than $200 out of this one.

 

[jbaakko]

Re pic #2: Guess porta-johns can handle an explosion better than a Dodge Neon.

Mark

Lol, Nice one.

 

[grande man]

Wow!!! That could have been REALLY bad in terms of loss of life. It's good to hear everyone lived thru it.

 

[bobthellama42]

Is that the furnace that is adjacent to the old Rouge Power plant?

 

[Bread&steel]

These are some of the most dramatic pictures I've ever seen ! Sure didn't make the news here. What do those idiots know about American iron business, anyway. They wouldn't know what they were looking at !
Sorry....just my soap box.
I wonder where all the pig ended up? It would be a shame to waste it

 

[OldGettysk]

Amazing pictures and sure glad that no one was killed !!!!

 

[Old 97]

I originally thought this was a facility that melted old cars for steel.

Yeah, me too.

 

[Matt]

What a loss of a Charger...

 

[JimmyG]

Around 1954, the #2 blast furnace at McLouth Steel (Detroit) blew up. The top of the furnace flew halfway across the Detroit River and landed on Grosse Isle. True story. My dad worked there. No casualties.

 

[Steve B]

Amazing that nobody died, would NOt have liked to have been standing anywhere near that

 

[UPBrad]

Re pic #2: Guess porta-johns can handle an explosion better than a Dodge Neon.

Mark

I've said for years that porta-johns were built better than Dodge Neons.

 

[newyorkcentralfan]

That what you get when you sell to Russian companies; Soviet era safety procedures. Remember Chernobyl?

 

[UP2CSX]

What does Russian ownership have to do with inadequate oversite by OSHA and other regulatory agencies? This is the real issue, not who owned the plant.

 

[UPBrad]

Yeah, I can't help but blame the oversight. That's what you get for hiring supervisors with the kind of decision making skills that lead them to buy a Dodge Neon.