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RINGS OF FIRE <br /> The Scrap Tire Management Council in minimize the hazards of sparks from <br /> collaboration with the International burning refuse, boiler stacks, and vehicle <br /> Association of Fire Chiefs has published a exhaust. <br /> recommendation that clearances around <br /> tire pile sites should be extended to 60 Some tire pile operators have instituted <br /> feet. NFPA 231D further requires that recommendations by the fire service and <br /> grass,weeds, and other combustible debris installed fire extinguishing systems in the <br /> be eliminated throughout the entire engine compartments of heavy machinery <br /> storage yard. working the tire pile. Statistics from Utah <br /> (UFIRS) suggests that many tire fires are <br /> Accidental Fires a result of hydraulic leaks from heavy <br /> machinery. <br /> The tire fire in Santa Rosa, California <br /> reportedly started in a work shed where Natural Causes <br /> tires were stored up against the building. <br /> Fifteen thousand tires were incinerated on But there will be those tire fires that <br /> this site, which stored over 750,000 tires. absolutely cannot be protected against. A <br /> case in point is Weld County, Colorado, <br /> The Fresno tire fire was started by a where half of the 6,000,000 stockpiled tires <br /> neighbor burning trash, igniting 275,000 burned. This fire was started by a <br /> tires. lightning strike in the scrap tire pile. <br /> While the ignition source in this case <br /> A carelessly discarded cigarette was the could not have been anticipated, the use <br /> reported cause of the tire fire in St. of lightning rods could have diverted the <br /> Amable, Quebec. The point of ignition lightning from the pile. Increased <br /> was relatively close to workers shredding separation distances may have also <br /> tires. Here, again, it seems unlikely a contained this fire to smaller piles. <br /> cigarette could ignite a tire. Fire officials <br /> postulated combustible debris assisted in NFPA 231D and the Uniform Fire Code <br /> this accidental fire. both establish minimum separation <br /> distances between tires and exposures. <br /> In all of the above examples, accidental For units of 500 tires or less, the <br /> fires in scrap tires piles can be protected minimum requirement is 25 feet. The <br /> against by restricting the sources of distances increase as the tire pile gets <br /> ignition from the site. higher or longer. <br /> Prohibition of smoking, open welding, and <br /> other potential sources of ignition as <br /> detailed in NFPA 231D when working in <br /> a scrap tire pile site should be enforced. <br /> Safeguards should be provided to <br /> 24 <br />