Fire in a chemical godown

A fire occurred yesterday (15.08.2012) at about 1000 hr in a chemical godown that stored solvent drums. It is reported that nobody was injured. However, 150 tins of solvents and thinners stored in ground and first first floor were gutted. The compound wall and first floor got collapsed in the fire incident and it took more than 8 hr to control the fire by using water and foam. The people in nearby areas suffered breathing problems due to chemical pollutants in the atmosphere due to fire. 

As it is claimed nobody was present during that time, the reason for fire is not known. I am unable to guess the reason for fire. It could be due to accumulation of solvent vapors and insufficient ventilation and the ignition source can be some glowing lamp. 

It is reported that there are many chemical godowns in the area that does not have permission from PCB authorities. There should be a single window system for clearing industrial activities wherein all concerned departments like factory department, pollution control board, water authority, electricity authority, police department, revenue department, health department, etc scrutinize the applications and then only authorize for setting up the facility and permit connections for electricity, water, etc.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article3778402.ece

http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20120815/2044726.html

Fire during solvent transfer in buckets from drums

2-3 days back, I read a news item in a regional news paper that there was fire while transferring a solvent with a plastic bucket from drums. There were sparks followed by big fire.
It is clearly due to static charge builtup during dipping of plastic bucket in drums containing solvent. Static charge is generated due to friction between conducting (metal drum) and non-conducting (solvent, bucket) media. For solvent transfer, one should provide proper piping arrangement with earthing and bonding to dissipate the charge accumulated.
Few years back, I read a case study in which a fire occurred while transferring the solvent through braided plastic hose. Investigation revealed that the electrical continuiity was broken as there was no contact between the nozzle and the metal braid reinforcement to the hose. During transfer for extended time, the accumulated charge on the hose discharged as spark causing fire.
Hence, earthing and bonding are important aspects and one should avoid short term measures like bucket transfer to avoid recurrence of such fire incidents. Further, the operators should not wear synthetic dress (wear only cotton dress), wear antistatic foot wear, ensure turbulence, nozzle spray, etc to avoid static charge generation/accumulation.

Safety of cockroach killing sprays

Last week, my wife was in the kitchen and suddenly she shouted for help. I ran to her only to see that she is in a state of shock. Later, I was told that the gas burner was lit for cooking. After seeing few cockroaches nearby, she sprayed the killing chemical from the container around the cockroaches. Immediately, the spray caught fire from the gas burner and the flame came towards her. She turned off the burner knob and went into shock. I never thought that spray will be within flammable limits and this taught me a lesson.

Earlier, few years ago, when I sprayed the same chemical for killing cockroaches, over the electrical switch board and also inside the electrical winding section of kitchen mixie and then switched ON the electrical point, the MCB tripped in the house. Without understanding the reason, I set it ON and again switched ON in the kitchen. This time MCBs tripped at home as well as at the LDB in the ground floor of our apartment complex, from where power cables are drawn to my residence. Then, I set it ON. Next, when I switched ON the mixie, there was burning smell from it. Then only it occurred to me that the spray caushed short circuit and lead to tripping of MCBs and coil burning.