One morning in July 2003, fire engulfed the 131,000-square-foot manufacturing facility of Accuride, a maker of steel and aluminum wheels. Luckily, the plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, was only two miles away from the offices of disaster restoration contractor, Belfor USA.

Fast response times did much to mitigate the damage done to the plant. Fire trucks were on the scene within minutes, and the fire was quickly doused. A representative of the restorer also was able to get to the fire quickly.

“The moment we noticed the smoke from our office, we received a call from the building's insurer,” said Scott Halliwill, project manager at Belfor. “When I arrived at the facility, there were six or seven fire trucks dumping water on the blaze.”

The fire had started from a spark that ignited aluminum dust mixed with a polishing compound. The highly combustible mixture sent flames soaring across the entire production side of the roof structure, destroying numerous bar joists, extensive metal decking, and much of the roof insulation board.

Although this was bad enough, the worst was yet to come. Once the fire was finally extinguished, heavy smoke residue and water blanketed the entire facility and its interior contents, including costly production machinery that required significant lead time to replace.

“Hours after the fire was out, the smoke was still so dense that the fire department could not get into the building,” Halliwill said. “We went back to our office and retrieved some industrial fans to help them clear the interior enough so that they could go in and inspect.”

A Plan of Action

Although the restorer was on-site at the request of the building's insurance company, the plant manager put them in touch with Accuride's insurer. In a very competitive industry, every minute of production downtime put Accuride's client base at risk. There was no time to waste.

Even before the fire had been extinguished, plans were being made to get Accuride back in business. Teams of Belfor employees and specialized technicians already were making arrangements to travel to the facility from all over Ohio, as well as Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Trucks and technicians arrived throughout the afternoon.

By 3 p.m., Halliwill was able to walk through the building with the fire marshal. Peter Helms, national project manager for machinery, and Matthias Weissbrich, project manager for electronics, arrived in time to walk through the plant with a representative from Accuride's insurance company to assess each piece of machinery.

The scope of the challenge quickly emerged and was presented at a 7 p.m. meeting, less than 12 hours after the fire had begun. In addition to damaging the building and crucial production equipment, the fire had affected all the supporting mechanical equipment for operation — electrical systems, gas piping, and plumbing — covering it with acidic smoke particles.

The priorities were clear: immediate corrosion control and stabilization of the building. The latter involved temporarily covering the roof, plugging holes, water removal, structural drying, and pulling damaged heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems.

Once these damage mitigation goals were achieved, the next phase would include full electronic and mechanical restoration, according to the protocol established by Helms and Weissbrich, and the reworking of electric lines, gas piping, and other plumbing. The work schedule was strenuous: two 12-hour shifts, 24 hours a day, until the job was complete. The goal was to have an operational production line in seven days, which was the approximate time it would take to restore power to the plant.

Teams were drawn up, team leaders were assigned, and areas of authority were designated. A skeletal crew started the first night and, by the next day, work was proceeding full force. Each 12-hour shift had more than 100 people working, sometimes as many as 140, plus support and project management staff.

The roof and exterior walls were fitted with temporary coverings to restore moderate temperature and humidity levels. Working around the clock and relying on huge generators, crews cleaned the ceilings, walls, and other contents by extracting water and removing debris, while others worked on the electrical, gas, and plumbing lines. At the same time, three separate teams were working on different aspects of the production line following priorities specified by Accuride. Every component of the complex mechanical systems, equipment, and electronics was disassembled, decontaminated and cleaned, reassembled, and tested.

Because corrosion-control substances were applied to all exposed metals and contact points during the emergency response, corrosion was forestalled and the majority of components could be restored, saving vast amounts of money and protracted lead times for hard-to-replace equipment.

Just as promised, Accuride's crucial production line was up and operating in seven days. Within two weeks, the plant was back to full production.

That was not the end of the story, however. Part of the roof, including 30 of its 207 bar joists, still needed replacement, and it had to be done in such a way that the production line was not disturbed. After careful planning, a huge scaffolding was erected inside the building that would allow the work to be performed while protecting the employees and production line should anything fall. The superstructure had to be strong enough to catch and support any of the huge metal beams the crane would be lifting.

Bad weather intervened and, due to snow and ice, the roof repair will have to be completed during the spring and summer of 2004. Through it all, Accuride's Cuyahoga Falls plant has been able to fulfill its obligations to its customers and hold onto critical market share — a significant achievement in view of the threat it faced.

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