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Print [Ferro-alloys.com]Up to two hundred mt of molten iron poured out of a failed melter at the Glenbrook Steel Mill overnight causing numerous fires on multiple storeys.
The on-site fire brigade responded to the breach and two more trucks from the Waiuku Volunteer Fire Brigade were called for back up.
New Zealand Steel, who owns the plant, confirmed that at approximately 8pm last night a breakout of molten iron spewed from one of its melters in the iron making plant.
In a statement, the company said all appropriate safety protocols were put in place and there were no injuries to employees.
Waiuku station officer Kevin Wanhill said one of two melters had a hole in it and a ''substantial flow'' was pouring out onto a concrete platform.
It was a ''glowing, red-hot liquid - almost like lava," he said. ''Anything combustible that comes near to, or in contact with it, goes up in flames."
Mr Wanhill said they isolated power and water supplies then put out a number of small fires with extinguishers on upper levels.
''They have hydraulic lines and they burn upwards,'' he said.
''[The flame] follows the oil so some of those have tracked up to higher levels.''
The liquid metal flowed out ''like water'' for about three hours and the on-site emergency team contained it with slag heaps.
Water was used to cool the red hot substance and Mr Wanhill, whose team arrived home after 1.30am, said he wouldn't be surprised if they were still applying water at daylight.
The molten iron was contained in about a 30 metre square pool and it was up to one metre deep in places, Mr Wanhill said.
Today, the job of chipping away at the hardened substance began. Mr Wanhill said he has attended four similar incidents over the past two years at the mill.
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