Durban Harbour Fire

Unfolding: Massive Smoke from Durban Harbour

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From a post on Facebook

The danger is actually ratcheting up of you ask me... The fire is getting awfully close to a large bonded general store area where God only knows what crap is inside
 
Looks like they are gonna have to let the whole thing burn down. I don't see how they stop that.
 
FoXtroT said:
Looks like they are gonna have to let the whole thing burn down. I don't see how they stop that.
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Never the intention to put it out if you ask me.... Contain it and let it burn itself out... Just looks like containment is not working all that well inside the warehouse
 
Interesting question is going to be, why did the warehouse fire suppression systems not work? were they perhaps storing things that the fire suppression system was not designed to work on? I am sure that insurance will be asking those questions before paying anyone.
 
friedpiggy said:
Interesting question is going to be, why did the warehouse fire suppression systems not work? were they perhaps storing things that the fire suppression system was not designed to work on? I am sure that insurance will be asking those questions before paying anyone.
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Looking at the photo's and judging from the recent construction of our own warehouses, I don't see large enough water tanks to handle a fire of this size anywhere. But it is by the harbour so one has to wonder if there wasn't some system to access water from the bay. Either way, depending on materials, sometime nothing will stop a fire. Policy by us is evacuate always, even with multiple sprinkler systems, smoke sensors etc, we don't know whats in the warehouse at any given time as its a tranship not storage.
 
ToxicBunny said:
................God only knows what crap is inside
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Nail on the head.
Who knows what is in there that is hidden by false declarations which are used in all forms of transport fraud?


IATA Issues Warning on False Declarations of Dangerous Goods Posted on Sep 19, 2015 by Allan Colless
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned the Freight Forwarding Industry to be aware that some shippers are trying to circumvent regulations by deliberately shipping dangerous cargo, including lithium batteries, without declaring them.

IATA's global head of cargo, Glyn Hughes, highlighted an AWB for a consignment of leather cases, chargers and screen protectors, which clearly stated 'no batteries, no magnets'. That was a lie. The shipment contained 300 boxes with six tonnes of lithium batteries that were not packed properly, labelled or declared. Fortunately the shipment was discovered 'already smoking' in a warehouse before loading.
http://www.aiau.com.au/news.html/2015/09/19/iatadgwarning/
 
Fallout from Durban fire blackens pools across the city

Homeowners across Durban woke up on Saturday to pools which have an oily‚ dark residue on the surface and‚ in extreme cases‚ entire pools have turned black.

“In my 34 years in the pool business‚ this is a first for me‚” said Durban North-based pool specialist Pete Shedlock. “The closest scenario I can think of is a motorist losing control of a car‚ smashing through a fence and ending up in a pool‚ contaminating it with dirt and petrol.”

The problem was caused by a combination of heavy soot in the air‚ and rain‚ Shedlock said.

His advice to affected pool owners is to immediately remove the automatic pool cleaner (Kreepy) and let the pool pump run for 24 hours.
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More at: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2017/03/25/Fallout-from-Durban-fire-blackens-pools-across-the-city1
 
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#Durbanfire: Toxic fume fears

Durban – There was fear across the city on Friday night over possible toxic fumes from the massive cloud of dense black smoke which hung over Durban, while the city remained on standby to evacuate a 4km radius around the fire on Friday night.

Despite intermittent rains on Friday afternoon, the fire raged on in South Coast Road, and emergency teams battled to contain the flames, while billowing smoke travelled in a dark barrel sitting low on the skyline to Ballito in the north.

Late on Friday night, emergency teams were still battling the inferno, with the main aim to keep the flames away from a fertiliser warehouse. Fire teams were seen working in formations in half-hour durations, with a 10-minute break, to keep the flames at bay in the 2500m2 warehouse. With 35 fire engines and 125 fire personnel on duty, operations ran late into on Friday night.

The water department said it had made provision for enough water to be available.

Fuel stations along Solomon Mahlangu (Edwin Swales VC Drive) Drive were asked to limit the number of people in the area.

Meanwhile, residents phoned The Independent on Saturday or posted on Facebook that an oily/waxy residue, washed out of the air by the rain, was falling onto cars, streaking walls and collecting in swimming pools. Households are faced with a massive clean-up today, using water meant to be conserved because of the drought.

The eThekwini Municipality warned residents to take care should the smoke come down to street level, and it said plans were in place for an evacuation of residents and the industrial area in a 3-4km radius around the fire.

Deputy mayor Fawzia Peer, who oversees the disaster management committee, said emergency workers were on standby to evacuate people up to a 4km radius from the fire, and they were concerned about people who had respiratory problems. Among the areas that could face evacuation are parts of the Bluff, Bayhead, Clairwood and Umbilo.

Residents however, were fearful. Kabir Singh asked on the municipal Facebook page: “Are the gases in the smoke toxic? What effects will it have?”. Others posted about the “ashy” substances found on their vehicles in La Lucia, and “waxy globules” in their pools.

eThekwini fire chief Gideon Mchunu said: “The substances were black soot and wax, neither of which are toxic.

“We are not experts on atmospheric analysis, but we don’t know of any danger posed by these substances.”

A third warehouse caught fire around 7pm, with fears that it could spread to another containing ammonia nitrate fertiliser, which would wreak havoc over a wide area.

The fire started in a warehouse off South Coast Road on Friday morning and by late morning the billowing smoke cloud hung over the city and could be seen from as far away as Ballito, on the North Coast, and Umbumbulu, on the South Coast.

Firemen battled all day to contain the raging blaze, which started at the south end of the massive warehouse park, razing at least two warehouses containing flammable polypropolene pellets, used in the plastic industry, and paraffin.

They focused on dousing the flames, as well as preventing them from spreading to other warehouses where fertiliser were stored.

Melted wax spilled out of one end of the first warehouse, creating a huge potentially flammable puddle, part of which eventually succumbed to the flames.
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More at: http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/durbanfire-toxic-fume-fears-8340061
 
“We are not experts on atmospheric analysis, but we don’t know of any danger posed by these substances.”

I am sure with all that smoke burning into the atmosphere must have caused some sort of consequence?
 
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