Deseret Morning News, Thursday, April 15, 2004

Fire burns clothing at Tooele depot

STOCKTON, Tooele County — A fire has burned in a large oven-like chamber used to decontaminate protective clothing at Deseret Chemical Depot. No one was injured.

The fire started sometime after 9 a.m. Wednesday. The fire was a Material Decontamination Chamber at the Oquirrh Mountain Facility, formerly known as the Chemical Agent Munitions Destruction System, said Chuck Sprague of Deseret Chemical Depot.

"They didn't put (the fire) out because it was inside this chamber . . . What they had to do was turn the furnace off first. It's so hot in there. They can't go in to investigate to find (out) what caused the fire," Sprague said.

By Wednesday afternoon, there still were flames and smoke, Sprague said. Officials were planning to enter the chamber this morning.

The chamber decontaminates white, bulky protective suits people wear at the depot. "What they're doing is taking them out (of storage), hanging them in these decontamination chambers with low heat for like 24 hours. And at a specific given heat" the suits are decontaminated, Sprague said.

No chemical vapors were detected within the ventilated facility, Sprague said.

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