MULVANE, Kan. (KSNW) — Several fire departments sent firetrucks to help extinguish a fire at a Mulvane company Wednesday morning, but a train delayed some of the trucks.
The fire started at Buffco Engineering, 200 Industrial Drive, around 10:50 a.m. Buffco is just southwest of Mulvane.
Mulvane Deputy Fire Chief Lowell Ester said the fire started in the deburring room.
“They had a pallet of lithium and aluminum that they had been deburring, cleaning up, and the scrap metal caught on fire,” he said. “The person that was working in there used an extinguisher on it, couldn’t put the fire out, so he got out of the room, closed the door, and they got the fire department called.”
In the quote above, Ester says it was a pallet of lithium and aluminum that they had been deburring. Mulvane Fire Rescue said in a Facebook post that “the cause of the fire was found to be accidental ignition of Titanium and Aluminum shavings while an employee was de-burring.” An employee corroborates that it was titanium and not lithium.