Oh Dear ...

[Sukerkin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-17177035

Well, I guess we'll either be getting lots more support work for the Tilbury biomass project ... or none at all.

It depends on how much damage to other buildings the fire does - thankfully it's in a preliminary fuel preperation area but the bad news is that pre-combustion bio-mass pelleted fuel absorbs water like noones business so the unpinning structures will be taking a terrible strain as the fire services damp it down to contain the blaze.

 

[granfire]

That bad thing about putting out fire...the water does as much or more damage....

 

[Sukerkin]

Very true, Gran. There was a similar fire at another station (Drax I think but don't quote me on that) and they just let it burn through rather than try to put it out. In that case tho the fuel was contained in a silo whereas it is just heaped up at Tilbury (or so I believe). That means that the flow of air through the mass is unrestricted and is why the fire seems so much more uncontrolled than in the other incident.

 

[oftheherd1]

That bad thing about putting out fire...the water does as much or more damage....

The main damage from the water, other than against wood, is the acids in the smoke that the water picks up. With a house fire, the best thing that can be done is to hose down anything you want to save; thoroughly and quickly. It may sound counter intuitive, but I have found it to be so. Some things may need professional treatment to get rid of burned odor, but that should only be after a really good bath in fresh water.

 

[granfire]

I hope I won't ever have to put that theory to the test.

But I was thinking more in the line of the flooding that occures after the water is poured onto a fire.