On June 4, Tata Steel announced in a statement that on the evening of June 3, a fire broke out in one of its processing lines at the Port Talbot steel mill.
The company said the incident was unrelated to the recent dismantling of its empty, redundant gas tank.
Mid and West Wales Fire Services arrived at the scene at 8:00 p.m. local time to control the fire, and Tata said all personnel had been gathered and safely evacuated from the area. As of the evening of June 4, the steel mill reported that the fire department was still on site to maintain control over the territory of the refrigeration workshop where the fire occurred.
A company representative said that the fire had been localized in a limited area and that, despite the shutdown of the hot rolling shop, production was expected to resume quickly.
In a statement, Tata said it was still unable to assess the cause of the fire and its potential impact on operations. The company added that it is "exploring a number of options" to minimize the impact on customers.
The incident occurred just weeks before the UK's new protective measures against steel came into force, which aim to reduce imports in an attempt to boost domestic production.
"The fire doesn't look good," one of the vendors said. "Now is a very bad time to announce quotas."
The Platts agency, part of S&P Global Energy, estimated the production of hot-rolled coils in the UK at 705 pounds per metric ton in the West Midlands, which is 5 pounds higher than in the previous week, and since the beginning of the year this figure has increased by 190 pounds per ton.
Photo courtesy of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service
Written by Riley Waters
