LATEST NEWS
Monday, April 25, 2005
Officials investigating
cause of rocket fire at Depot
By the EAST OREGONIAN
eonews@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — A fire started
in the explosive containment room at the Umatilla Chemical Depot incinerator
at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
No one was injured and no chemical agent was released outside the
containment room, according to depot officials.
However, officials weren’t sure when incineration work at the depot
would resume.
Officials are investigating the cause of the fire, but depot spokeswoman
Mary Binder said the incident was similar to the April 7 fire at the depot.
Saturday’s fire started after an M55 rocket had been drained of its
GB sarin nerve agent and was going through the rocket shear machine. The
machine was on the fifth of seven cuts through the rocket’s motor when the
fire started.
The fire lasted about 10 minutes and didn’t damage the containment
room, Binder said. Air automatically shut off to the room and the fire burned
itself out.