A General Motors casting plant in Saginaw, Michigan was evacuated early Tuesday morning after two small fires broke out at the facility.
According to MLive, the Saginaw Fire Department was dispatched to the GM Metal Casting Operations plant shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday morning to extinguish the blaze, which was located in an area of the plant where molten aluminum is present.
“When we got there, there was one small fire inside the building and one small fire outside,” said Saginaw fire battalion chief Gregory Simmons. “We were able to extinguish those two small fires.”
“The fire primarily stayed in ductwork, which made it easier for the on-site fire battalion and brigade to contain it,” he added. “At one point, the sprinkler system contained in some of the duct work came on and off, so that knocked a lot of the fire down.”
Production work at the Saginaw casting plant is expected to resume shortly, although GM did not say if employees would be headed back to work this week. The Saginaw Fire Department estimates cleanup will take a couple of days.
GM spokeswoman Kathryn Teer told MLive the cause of the fire is currently under investigation. According to the automaker’s information page for the Saginaw casting plant, 371 hourly employees work there, along with an additional 107 salaried employees. The plant makes aluminum engine blocks for the 5.3-liter and 6.2-liter V8, along with aluminum cylinder heads for other GM motors.
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Source: MLive
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