Air conditioner fire temporarily halts incinerator use

The Associated Press
10/24/03 11:41 AM

ANNISTON, Ala. (AP) -- An air conditioner fire caused by a faulty bearing halted operations Thursday night at the Anniston Chemical Disposal incinerator, but no toxic agent was released and no workers were injured, Army officials said.

"We did cease operations as a safety precaution," said Donovan Mager, a spokesman for Westinghouse-Anniston, the government contractor for the incinerator.

Army officials planned to resume operations Friday, destroying tons of chemical weapons stored in igloos at the Anniston Army Depot.

Since Aug. 9, the Army has been destroying M-55 rockets filled with deadly GB, or sarin, nerve agent.

As of Wednesday, 7,063 rockets and 7,688 gallons of GB had been destroyed during operations at the incinerator.

The air conditioner fire, which smoke alarms detected at 4:21 p.m. Thursday, was extinguished by the time firefighters from the Anniston Army Depot arrived nine minutes later, Mager said. A worker in the next room heard the alarm and put it out.

Officials gave the "all clear" signal at 5 p.m.

The fire was contained by the incinerator employee with nothing more than a hand-held extinguisher and by cutting off power to the air conditioner.