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The fire started at 6:57 a.m. in Pine Bluff’s explosive containment room, where the explosive components of the weapons are destroyed. It “lasted less than two minutes” without any leakage of chemicals into the surrounding area, facility officials reported. There were no injuries. The fire is under investigation. Pine Bluff spokeswoman Raini Wright said it ignited at the fifth of seven shears of the rocket, the same point at which earlier fires ignited. Studies of previous incidents by the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency suggest that propellant migrates out of the rocket’s engine. The engine is located where the fifth shear is done. The facility has halted weapons processing while officials investigate the fire and do some maintenance work. “I think there’s some equipment that may need to be repaired that is unrelated (to the fire),” Wright said. “There is other equipment that needs a part repaired.” Similar rocket fires, often also at the same point in the shearing process, have occurred at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility this year. The Army is investigating the cause of the fires at both facilities. Only one fire occurred at Anniston during its sarin-filled rocket campaign in 2003 and 2004. That campaign now is completed. Three fires at Umatilla caused the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to stop weapons processing temporarily in May and June while officials at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality prepared a response plan for future incidents. Doug Szenher, a spokesman with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, said department officials are “concerned” about the fires, but that Pine Bluff has stayed in close contact with them about the incidents. “They have kept us informed, based on the e-mail traffic I have seen on it, but I’m not aware that our folks consider that any of this has been serious enough to warrant shutting the unit down,” he said. The agency has a contingency plan in place with Pine Bluff in the event of fires, Szenher said. Weapons processing does not resume after an incident until Pine Bluff receives verbal authorization from the Arkansas state environmental agency to do so. The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has reported no fires this year. The facility did suffer a power loss during a July 28 lightning storm. Weapons processing was halted for a few weeks while crews investigated why back-up generators did not take over power from a battery system. Crews upgraded a substation to fix the problem. Minor maintenance issues also delayed a test burn in March.
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