On May 2nd, there was a fire at an automotive supplier plant in Michigan. This fire shut down the production of SUV’s at a Mercedes-Benz plant. The fire triggered an explosion caused by the mixture of water and magnesium. According to local papers, when the firefighters entered the plant they saw a white-hot glow at the end of a tunnel and immediately evacuated. There was an explosion not to long after that sent projectiles out into the parking lot. The Eaton Rapids Fire Chief said it best when he said that it was a miracle that no one was injured.
Specialized Fire Detection Systems
Automotive manufacturing involves many potentially hazardous processes that can result in large fires. Whether it is the paint booths, welding shops, fuel fill, refrigerant charging and many more. Each potential hazard has a fire protection system that would extinguish the type of fire as safely as possible. Fire suppression systems are designed to protect both the employees and the process equipment. The hazards found in automotive plants usually require specialized fire detection systems that detect flame, heat, smoke, refrigerants, and combustible gas. These work in harmony with the fire suppression systems that would be customized to the hazards and equipment you are working with.
Requirements for Paint Booth Fire Protection
Paint booths are one of the larger fire hazards in an automotive plant. A few of the reasons they pose such a large risk is because of the flammability of the paint and the automated electrostatic painting equipment. The electrostatic painting process has a high potential for fires due to frequent arcs that could ignite the highly flammable paint. Paint booths in automotive plants are required to be protected by an automatic fire suppression system. Everything from flame detection, gas detection, and a fire suppression system designed specifically for this type of hazard.
Fire Protection Systems for the Automotive Industry
3S has been a leading company in the paint booth fire protection design and installation. We have worked with everyone from GM, Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Volvo, and VW. We have designed fire protection systems that protect their paint booths, fuel fill lines, paint mix rooms, refrigerant fill lines and the like. We have installed detection systems that can detect flame, toxic gas, combustible gas, smoke in ducts, aspirating smoke, and many more. Every second counts when it comes to a fire, so it is best to be on the front side of protection to have the best available detection systems. But it also relies on having the proper fire suppression system installed that can lead to your employees and factory to be protected as well. Contact us today to find out what we can do for your automotive plant.
513-202-5070