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News
Industrial crane damaged by fire
BY BRIAN K. FINNICUM, EDITOR
Monday, November 10, 2008 2:59 PM CST
A giant industrial crane was heavily damaged by fire last week as it was on its way to help erect a cellular telephone tower in southern Fannin County.
The 80-ton, 160-foot boom crane, owned by Phoenix Crane Co. out of Atlanta, was traveling south in the 19000 block of Morganton Hwy. on top of Wilscot Mountain, headed toward the tower site on Doublehead Gap Road, when the driver reported noticing a smell like burning wires, said Fannin County Fire Chief Larry Thomas.
The driver pulled off to the side of the road, but was unable to get the motor to shut off, Thomas said. The crane’s cab began to fill with smoke, and the motor finally quit as flames broke out, he said.
The driver tried to use a portable fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, but without success, Thomas said.
Twelve firefighters responded to the scene with an engine, two tankers and an ambulance from the Morganton, Hurst and Cooper Creek fire stations. They were dispatched at 11:43 a.m. and the first units were on the scene in 12 minutes.
On arrival, the firefighters found the crane approximately halfway involved in flames, with the flames reaching as high as the treetops, Thomas said. About 750 to 1,000 gallons of water was used to put out the fire, he said.
Thomas said the fire caused leaks that released large quantities of diesel fuel and hydraulic fluid that were on board the crane. An environmental emergency cleanup team responded to the site from Chattanooga, and a U.S. Forest Service bulldozer plowed up a containment berm to keep the leaking fluids from contaminating a nearby creek, Thomas said.
Thomas said only a minimal amount of water was used in extinguishing the fire to help prevent runoff of the spilled fluids. As a result, the crane took some time to cool down from the fire. Thomas said firefighters remained on the scene for nearly seven hours.
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