Fire chief: Zarbana incident described as steam flash | News, Sports, Jobs

COLUMBIANA — City Fire Chief Jim Douglas described the incident Thursday night at an aluminum plant on Esterly Drive as an explosion rather than a fire.

Douglas said the three people injured in an early evening commercial incident at Zarbana Aluminum Extrusions 41738 Esterly Drive were pouring molten aluminum into a water-jacketed container when the molten metal boiled over, causing a steam flash that burned the trio.

He estimated the temperature of the molten aluminum to be about 800 degrees.

Zarbana offers its aluminum extrusions for windows, doors, solar technology, displays and chalkboards, to name a few uses.

Two of the injured men were transported by ambulance to St. Elizabeth’s main campus, while a third was taken by air ambulance to the Pittsburgh Mercy burn center because of the severity of some of his burns.

Douglas had no updated information regarding their condition.

According to news partner WKBN, the incident occurred in a section of the building where four people were working. A total of 15 employees were present in the building at the time.

In addition to Columbiana, Leetonia also answered the call.

Douglas said none of the victims appeared to have life-threatening injuries.

The department ultimately used 300 gallons of water to extinguish a small fire near the area that had ignited skates and packing materials, he added.

Crews shut down all utilities to the building and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was expected to arrive on scene Friday.

By 1:30 a.m., the firefighters had left the scene, Douglas concluded.

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