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Cooling tower at Lenzing AG goes on fire

1. No risk to human life or the environment
2. Production interrupted in the short-term

On Monday 29 April shortly after 1 p.m. a cell of the five-part plant caught fire during routine welding work on the cooling tower at Lenzing AG. The cooling tower which is located outside the actual factory grounds in the Northern parking area cools the cooling water of Lenzing AG before it is introduced to the Ager river so as to prevent the river becoming overheated when the water level is low.

Although the very first rescue vehicle from the company’s own fire brigade was on the scene some five minutes after the alarm had been given, the plant began to burn as a whole within a very short space of time. Particularly the built-in plastic parts in the cooling tower, largely made of polyethylene and glass fibre reinforced plastic, resulted in a black cloud of smoke. The population was, however, never at risk. The information announced in the radio was provided as a precautionary measure. All the measurements carried out indicate that there was no damage to the environment.

At 3.15 p.m. the company was able to inform everyone „the fire is out“. All in all 16 fire brigades and approximately 100 firemen took part in the fire fighting measures for which emergency phase 1, 2 and 3 were implemented. No people were at risk and no one was injured. Since the cooling tower is not directly located on the factory grounds there was never any danger of the fire spreading.

To ensure the safety of the rescue forces when extinguishing the fire, Energie AG was asked to switch off a 30 kV-line which runs directly past the object which was on fire. As a result of a breakdown in communication the 110 kv line was switched off by mistake which led to a power cut throughout the whole factory. This impeded the fire fighting measures and led to a production standstill.

Production was, however, reassumed step-by-step in the early evening. The overall damage, which cannot yet be evaluated, is covered by an insurance policy.

Since the water level of the Ager river is high at this time of the year and the cooling tower is used particularly in low water situations such as in the winter or at the height of summer, the full utilisation of the production plants is currently guaranteed.