Oak Ridge Today

Apartment kitchen fire stopped by suppressor system

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An automatic stovetop device stopped a kitchen fire from spreading in an Oak Ridge apartment Thursday morning, firefighters said. (Photo by ORFD)

An automatic stovetop device stopped a kitchen fire from spreading in an Oak Ridge apartment Thursday morning, firefighters said.

The fire was reported at about 10:52 a.m. Thursday in an apartment on Teller Village Lane. The first Oak Ridge Fire Department unit arrived within minutes and found smoke inside the apartment, a press release said.

No injuries were reported in the fire. The vent hood system, cabinets, and stovetop in the kitchen were damaged, but the fire was not able to spread because of the automatic stovetop fire suppressor device, the press release said.

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Lower fire classification in Clinton could lower home owners’ insurance premiums

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A lower community classification for Clinton and its fire department could translate, overall, into reductions in insurance premiums for home owners, a press release said.

The Insurance Services Office Inc., or ISO, notified the city and the Clinton Fire Department of the new community classification, which is 02/2X. That’s lower than the previous classification of 4, the press release said.

The new classification follows a recent analysis of the structural fire suppression delivery system for the City of Clinton. [Read more…]

Y-12 repairs roll-up door that failed to close during fire alarm at HEUMF

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Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility

Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (Photo courtesy of NNSA/B&W Y-12)

Workers have repaired a roll-up door that failed to close when a fire alarm system was activated at a high-security uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in May.

“The fire alarms were activated due to smoke from a belt of a fan with a failed bearing, but there was no fire,” the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a May 24 report. “The signal to the door closure device should cause a cable to release, allowing the door to close, but this did not occur because permanent deformation (kinks) in the cable caused it to knot when tension was released.” [Read more…]

‘Diligent’ engineer discovers Y-12 water line break that spilled six million gallons

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East Fork Poplar Creek

East Fork Poplar Creek starts at a spring at the Y-12 National Security Complex and flows through Oak Ridge. About six million gallons of water spilled into it in early June, killing several thousand small fish, after a 10-inch water line ruptured at Y-12.

The break in a 10-inch water pipe at the Y-12 National Security Complex on a Friday night in June—it spilled about six million gallons of water and killed several thousand small fish—was discovered by a diligent engineer who had returned to the plant to check on an abnormal water tower report, officials said.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board reported that the plant contractor’s utilities and environmental compliance organizations both had had indications of an abnormal condition, but B&W Y-12 had not established a procedure to respond to the signals.

“The break was discovered because a diligent system engineer decided to come back in to the site and check on an anomalous report of a low level in a water tower that had cleared as the pumps refilled the tank,” the DNFSB report said. “B&W management is evaluating ways to improve recognition of a problem from the available indications during off hours.” [Read more…]