| Umatilla Chemical Depot reaches milestone, reduces
storage risk by 53 percent By the East Oregonian HERMISTON — Another rocket fire occurred this morning in one of two explosive containment rooms at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. As in the previous fires last spring and summer, the GB M55 rocket ignited while being cut into pieces prior to incineration. It had already been drained of sarin nerve agent. The fire ignited at 7:17 a.m. and burned for about two minutes. It was put out by the fire suppression systems built into the remotely-operated containment rooms. The line in the other containment room wasn’t operating at the time. As in the past, damage is expected to be minimal. A team in full protective dress was scheduled to enter the room today to inspect the line. The rocket fire recovery plan approved last spring by the Department of Environmental Quality includes inspecting the entire process to ensure systems worked as intended and will determine when processing will resume. The last rocket fire took place July 29. About 1,900 rockets have been processed since then. Three fires occurred in April and May, after which the Army conducted an extensive investigation that fell short of definitively pinpointing the cause of the fires. However, they’ve all occurred at the same stage of the process. The Army investigation pointed to aging rocket fuel in the rockets as a likely cause. |
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