By Don Bond
The Norwich Bulletin
Sterling, Conn. — A frozen air line in the baghouse of the ReEnergy Sterling tire-burning plant is being blamed for igniting a Friday-morning fire in tires being fed into a furnace where they are burned to create energy.
Fire Marshal James Sweet said the frozen line caused a heat buildup in the area around a hopper that feeds tires and shredded tires into the furnace. Shortly after 9:30 a.m., the heat eventually became sufficient to cause the tires to ignite before they entered the furnace.
Sweet said the fire set off the plant’s sprinkler system. “The sprinkler helped to contain the fire, but had not extinguished it by the time the first firefighters arrived on the scene,” Sweet said.
Full story: Fire damages Sterling tire-burning plant