Fire Reported at Umatilla Weapons Processing Site

A fire ignited Wednesday during destruction of an M55 rocket that had been drained of sarin nerve agent at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon (see GSN, May 1).

The fire occurred at 9:45 a.m. in Explosive Containment Room A as a shear machine made the fifth of seventh cuts into the rocket, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency said in a press release. That is the same point at which a number of other rocket processing fires have occurred at Umatilla.

There were no injuries and no chemical agent escaped the room.

Processing in the room was halted following the fire. The processing line in Explosive Containment Room B is available for use, the Army said (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency press release, May 3).

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