‘Glowing mass’ forces lockdown in Flums after factory mishap
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‘Glowing mass’ forces lockdown in Flums after factory mishap
A blast of molten material at 1,500 °C ripped through several floors of an industrial building in Flums, St Gallen, late Thursday, prompting an overnight warning about noxious fumes. The alert was lifted within hours. No one was hurt.
There is no longer any danger to the population, announced the canton of St. Gallen on Thursday night via the Alertswiss alert service. According to the cantonal police, material damage is likely to amount to several million Swiss francs.
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A technical fault at a company in Flums producing rock wool caused a glowing mass to escape, a spokesman for the St Gallen cantonal police told Switzerland’s Keystone-SDA news agency.
The company uses large furnaces for its production. Shortly before 9.30pm on Thursday, a stream of molten material escaped from a furnace for as yet unknown reasons, the cantonal police said in a statement. At the plant, stone is melted in a furnace and then poured into a machine for further processing.
Large amount of smoke
The material, at around 1,500 degrees Celsius, fell to the ground and, due to the extreme heat, made its way through several floors. This caused a significant amount of smoke to be released, according to the police, who had previously warned of the risk of harmful gases being emitted.
The authorities sounded the alarm and asked the residents of Flums and Walenstadt to close their doors and windows and turn off their ventilation and air-conditioning systems. At around 1.30am on Friday morning, the authorities lifted the alert via Alertswiss.
Firefighters were still working at that time to cool the molten material. The extinguishing operations proved difficult, as the cooling water evaporated instantly under the effect of the intense heat. Because of the extreme temperatures, the premises concerned remained inaccessible. According to the St Gallen cantonal police, the work is expected to continue for several more hours.
Translated from French with DeepL/ds
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