<story><title>CA crews handle tricky fire at Tesla factory</title><url>https://www.firehouse.com/operations-training/news/21214084/ca-crews-handle-tricky-fire-at-tesla-factory</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dmlittle</author><text>I was curious as to the reason why water or CO2 can&amp;#x27;t be used to put off a metal fire. The TL;DR is that with a metal fire the high temperatures cause the H2O and CO2 molecules to be unstable enough that the metal can attract the oxygen molecules to fuel the ongoing fire rendering them useless as a fire suppressors. H2O is even worse as once the oxygen is split from the water molecule you are left with hydrogen which will combust and explosion might cause the molten fire to spread further. This doesn&amp;#x27;t happen with wood burning as the attraction to the oxygen molecules from the carbon being burnt is the same or stronger than the attraction from the CO2 or H2O molecules.</text></item><item><author>joering2</author><text>Props to Fire Dept. for having some decent response code enforcement - I mean you would never put off a molten metal; it would burn forever, and while you add water to it, it would only expand. AFAIK the only way to put it off is with sand.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>DavidPeiffer</author><text>Another big concern is the water turning to steam. It expands 1,000x. 2 cubic centimeters of water expanding to a 2 liter bottle worth of steam. My facility had its own quick response fire unit (production employees who went through fire and rescue training), and I believe the company helped fund a ladder truck for the town of ~600 people which is adjacent to a decent metropolitan area. Fast response is vital to minimize danger to people and damage to the facility.&lt;p&gt;Factories have been leveled by water hitting molten aluminum. The Hackaday link below does a great job summarizing the dangers.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;hackaday.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;30&amp;#x2F;water-and-molten-aluminium-is-a-dangerous-combination&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;hackaday.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;30&amp;#x2F;water-and-molten-aluminium-i...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Explosion links:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;sIJmwF1Qs7M&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;sIJmwF1Qs7M&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;jvddrln900Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;jvddrln900Q&lt;/a&gt; (last ~20 seconds)&lt;p&gt;Source: Used to work at a very large aluminum facility.</text></comment>
<story><title>CA crews handle tricky fire at Tesla factory</title><url>https://www.firehouse.com/operations-training/news/21214084/ca-crews-handle-tricky-fire-at-tesla-factory</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dmlittle</author><text>I was curious as to the reason why water or CO2 can&amp;#x27;t be used to put off a metal fire. The TL;DR is that with a metal fire the high temperatures cause the H2O and CO2 molecules to be unstable enough that the metal can attract the oxygen molecules to fuel the ongoing fire rendering them useless as a fire suppressors. H2O is even worse as once the oxygen is split from the water molecule you are left with hydrogen which will combust and explosion might cause the molten fire to spread further. This doesn&amp;#x27;t happen with wood burning as the attraction to the oxygen molecules from the carbon being burnt is the same or stronger than the attraction from the CO2 or H2O molecules.</text></item><item><author>joering2</author><text>Props to Fire Dept. for having some decent response code enforcement - I mean you would never put off a molten metal; it would burn forever, and while you add water to it, it would only expand. AFAIK the only way to put it off is with sand.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>myself248</author><text>We did this in HS chem class, with a block of dry ice that we cut in half and hollowed out. Then we coiled up some magnesium ribbon so it would perch in the hole, lit it with a MAPP gas torch, and closed the block. The magnesium continued to burn long after any lingering air in the hollow could&amp;#x27;ve been consumed. After a few minutes the magnesium was gone and we opened the block, and there was black carbon dust in the bottom of the hollow.&lt;p&gt;And that introduced the conversation about using the right extinguisher for the job!</text></comment>