Furnace Fire Reported at Michigan Aluminum Alloy Plant

In-house personnel helped extinguished the bulk of a furnace fire Monday morning at a plant on Michigan’s lower peninsula specializing in aluminum alloy wheels for the auto industry.

Fire broke out at three different sections of the furnace at Dicastal North America in Greenville used to transport aluminum particles, the Daily News reports.

“It was exhaust tubing that burns aluminum that caught on fire when they initially added air into that mixture,” Greenville Department of Public Safety Chief Dennis Magirl said. “The (two) places were quickly contained by staff and by us, but the third was located up high, so it was a little difficult.”

Firefighters used a lift to reach the third fire with dry chemical, he said.

“The insulation burning between the tubing connection was also put out,” Magirl said. “…It (was) contained within the tubing, so it’s not going to spread throughout the factory.”

Firefighters from Montcalm Township and Belding joined with GDPS in a mutual aid response.

Dicastal North America operates as a 100% owned subsidiary of CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd.—the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum wheels for the auto industry.