| When clinker dust spilled onto roof of the Clinker Silo at Lehigh Cement, Lehigh called the Chief, also a Foreman at Lehigh. They needed help to remove the product before it caused dust issues in town and a dangerous situation for those who work around the area. Clinker is a product produced after raw materials (Limestone, Silica and Pirite) are 'melted' together in a kiln at 2,500+ degrees, the beginning processes of making cement (fine powder that when mixed with water, sand and stone, makes concrete). This clinker is placed into a silo to cool and then ground up with Gypsum to make cement.
Chief Green paged out for help to take an Engine to the plant with the intent to wash the product from the roof of the silo. President and Engineer Tom Garber connected ET-82 to a yard hydrant and Captain Steve Keeney and Lt. Chris Harris assisted Chief Green by climbing into an exterior elevator on the silo to haul 300' of 1 3/4" hose to the top of the 200'+ tall silo to begin the process of washing off the roof.
It is estimated that about 20 tons of material was on the roof. Rains earlier in the week had formed a crust on top of the material, which made the washing down process even more difficult. About 3/4 of the way into this project, a barn fire was dispatch in a mutual aid area. The hose was removed from their connections and ET-82 responded with 4 personnel. Due to the amount of time that it took for the crew to come down from the top of the silo, units were on the scene and cancelled all other units before ET-82 got 2 miles from the service call.
ET-82 and the crew returned to finish the job, which took a total of 4 hours and more than 200,000 gallons of water. Over the next couple of days, employees removed the washed down material from around the silo. The fire company has had an excellent relationship with Lehigh over the years. Lehigh, for many years, allowed employees who were volunteer firefighters, to respond to emergencies while working. Since the new plant was built in 2005, this practice no longer exists due to the importance of each employees position to keep the plant running, however, Lehigh continues to help the fire company with money, materials and equipment use. |
