A number of stories have been circulating about a series of fires in the timber related manufacturing industries across Europe. The stories included alarming references to the additional presence and extreme dangers of Biomass fuels and formaldehyde production on sites where the alleged fires had occurred.
Now read what the Northumbria Fire Service has to say about it.
I am unaware of any significant fires in the timber processing industry in Europe, and certainly not within the UK, in recent times. I have also not come across any instances, whether in the wood processing industry, or otherwise where biofuel manufacturing has been involved.
There are two main types of biofuel, liquid biofuel (which is the type most commonly associated with this name) and biomass, a solid normally so called rather than as biofuel.
There is nothing to suggest that a biofuel supply isolation would be any different to any other fuel. Biofuel is simply fuel produced from plant extracts, rather than fossil fuels. So if the fuel is biodiesel it would be supplied exactly as if it were pure diesel derived from cracking crude oil. The only issue is that most biofuels are ethanol, or methanol, in their base form. These two products burn very freely and with little visible flame. However extinguishing them is no different to any other flammable liquid, excepting that an alcohol resistant foam may be required, which most foams in fire service use already are (ours has been for over 15 years). Biofuel manufacture would present no further issues than would be found in other fuel manufacture, though are normally on a smaller scale.
I am unaware of any timber processing plant in the world that produces biofuel as above, nor can see how the manufacturing process would be connected to their core business. Biofuels are derived from oils in plants, or fermentation of the plant, hence the use of corn, wheat and rape as biofuel bases. Timber plants normally use biomass as a fuel, which is a by product of their processes and leads to lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower fossil fuel use. These are greatly encouraged by governments as environmentally sound. An example of biomass is woodchip and sawdust, the tow products which Egger Uk are using in their furnaces to produce heat to dry woodchips for production lines. Woodchip boilers are one of the means of heating homes that are being presently promoted, out of interest I viewed some of this technology at the exhibition at the Methodist Church Hall, Hexham on Saturday past. Biomass is blown into the boilers as fuel and can be turned off in the same way as any other fuel, however, unlike gas is difficult to ignite in its stored form. Use of biomass offers no greater dangers in boilers than any other fuel, but is significantly safer to store and easier to extinguish as it is effectively just wood. For domestic use biomass/woodchip boilers are discussed by The Energy Saving Trust, see
John M Arnold MIFireE MCMI
Deputy Head of Learning & Development
Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service
Headquarters
Loansdean
Morpeth
NE61 2ED
Tel: (01670) 534726
Mob: 07771 865875
www.northumberlandfire.org.uk
