7/17/2004, 5:40 p.m. PT
The Associated Press
WHITE HALL, Ark. (AP) — Smoke and a small flame were spotted early Sunday in the explosive containment room of an incinerator being used to destroy chemical weapons stored at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, according to a news release from the disposal program.
No rockets were being processed at the time and none was in the area where a control-room operator spotted the flame and smoke, the release said. There was no release of any chemical agent and no danger to the public, the environment or the work force at the disposal facility, the release said.
The event lasted only 40 seconds, the release said, and the flame was
quickly put out with a water spray system.
"The event is currently under review, however, ignition of residual material contained in the feed-gate drain pan was been preliminarily identified as the most likely cause of the event," said Randy Long, site project manager.
Destruction of chemical weapons will resume "when measures required to prepare the facility for rocket processing are completed," perhaps as early as Wednesday, the release said.
The incident was the sixth small, brief fire in the past four months at either the incinerator here or a similar one doing the same work at a chemical-weapons storage depot in Umatilla, Ore.
A task force was named to look into the fires after the first five — three at Umatilla, two at the Pine Bluff Arsenal. But the Army concluded in a preliminary assessment that safety at the incineration operations won't be reduced even if such fires continue.