Screw machine blamed for massive machine shop fire

Tag : metal machine

As best as fire investigators can tell, the cause of Tuesdayafternoon’s massive machine shop fire was an overheated screwmachine.
“What usually happens when these things overheat is thecooling oil mechanism gets clogged somehow and the oil that comesout that’s supposed to keep the metal cool when the machineis cutting doesn’t come out anymore,” Loves Park FireChief Phil Foley said. “The shavings become red hot. They getclogged, and then the machine catches fire inside.”
All evidence points to that scenario, Foley said this morning.
“There’s no suspicious nature. It’s all prettymuch cut and dry,” he said. “When I saw that big blackcloud in the sky when I got the call on Windsor Road, I knew thebuilding was gone.”
Foley and about 50 Loves Park firefighters, and dozens more fromother nearby departments, were on the scene of a massive fire atthe North American Fabrication Co. from midafternoon Tuesday untilabout 1 a.m. today.
Foley said he will return to the scene today to do some finalchecks, make sure the water is turned off, and turn over what heknows to the company and its insurance company.
The fire sent billowing clouds of black smoke into the air aboveLoves Park that could be from as far away as downtown Rockford andBelvidere, but neither of the company’s two other buildingsor any other neighboring structures caught fire.
Only a few people were in the building when the fire broke out.Everyone was safely evacuated. No one was injured.
The building is a total loss, Foley said. Fire crews worked wellinto the morning doing overhaul and salvage at the site, makingsure nothing was left burning inside the partially collapsedstructure.
City officials have issued a boil order through at least Thursdayafternoon after detecting a drop in water pressure as a result ofthe fire.
For questions about the boil order, call the Loves Park WaterDepartment at 815-877-1421.