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Reported explosion in Urbana turns out to be minor

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By Katherine Ullmer , Staff Writer Updated 8:13 AM Wednesday, November 11, 2009

URBANA, Champaign County — A reported explosion at the International Fiber Corp., 1228 Muzzy Road, turned out to be minor.

A hopper full of ground up paper caught fire, said Capt. Jim Freeman of the Urbana Fire Department.

No one was injured, though a man operating the machinery was in the room at the time, he said. Freeman said a part broke in one of the grinders causing a spark. The ground up paper caught fire, blowing a door off above the hopper.

“They (the caller) thought the building blew up, but it didn’t,” Freeman said.

It will take several days to estimate the damage and determine how much product they lost.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2341 or kullmer@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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barloco you are a complete idiot.

bobo
5:02 PM, 11/13/2009

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sammy whoever your family is that works there doesn't know much then, the vp is Brian Finn and he is not facing anything, not sure where you're getting your information but it is wrong. and for the record there have been 3 explosions there in the past 20+ years the 1st one was in the mid 80s and then these 2 recent ones. And what someone said earlier is also true. perfect example, the person who caused the last explosion still works there and is still doing the same job.

bobo
5:00 PM, 11/13/2009

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INTERNATIONAL FIBER COMPANY HAS SPENT MORE MONEY ON SAFETY THAN ANY OTHER COMPANY IN OHIO.THEY MAKE FIBER WHICH IS EXPLOSIVE WHEN IGNITED,ITS NO DIFFERENT THAN ALL THE FIREWORK FACTORY EXPLOSIONS OR U GETTING IN YOUR CAR SOMEBODY HITTING U HEAD ON U TAKE A CHANCE WITH EVERYTHING YOU DO IN LIFE NOTHING IS 100 SAFE IF YOU THINK ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY YOU PROBABLY LIVE IN A FAKE BUBBLE.YOU SHOULD NOT PUT YOUR TWO CENTS IN ON STUFF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!!!!1

CHRISSPEILS
2:22 PM, 11/13/2009

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To fill you in on some details. i have family that does work at this factory. there are three other factory's under I.F.C. name. Urbana which is the largest N.Y., W.V., and also one overseas in France. in the last few years ALL of these plants have had major explosions. It has gottin so bad that the V.P. of I.F.C. (dan finn) could face prison time for anymore major O.S.H.A. violations.. so this is NOT a union thing! this is a safety thing invovling peoples lives..

slammin sammy
8:26 AM, 11/12/2009

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The 'problem' is that they work with what is basically finely ground paper. All it takes is a spark to set that paper on fire (like an equipment malfuntion causing metal to scrape metal) then pressure builds in the machinery and the machine hatch will blow. They are aware of the risks for that, and actually have their buildings (and likely some machinery) built in a way that it limits injury and damages when this sort of thing happens.

Bowser
6:00 AM, 11/12/2009

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