Tesla Giga Press involved in fire at Fremont Factory, no injuries reported

[MEDICALJMP]

Tesla Giga Press involved in fire at Fremont Factory, no injuries reported
CREDIT: FREMONTFIRE/INSTAGRAM

BySimon Alvarez
Posted on March 11, 2021

One of Tesla’s Giga Press machines at the Fremont Factory was recently involved in a small fire, prompting the city’s fire department to deploy some of its fire engines and trucks to the electric car plant. The fire was addressed using sand instead of water, and no injuries from the incident were reported.

Aerial footage from a local news site showed smoke emanating from one of the Giga Press machines. Fortunately, the fire did not seem to be too serious, as some employees appeared to be standing next to the Giga Press despite the fire.

Two Fremont Fire engines and a truck were deployed to the site. Upon arrival, Tesla staff advised the firefighters to extinguish the fire using sand, not water. Working together, the Fremont firefighters and Tesla’s Fire Response Team were able to contain the fire. A later Instagram post from the Fremont Fire Department confirmed that the Giga Press fire’s cause was traced to molten aluminum and hydraulic fluid. No Tesla or Fremont Fire personnel were injured due to the incident.

While images of heavy smoke coming out of the north side of the Fremont Factory complex suggested that the fire was severe, electric vehicle community members familiar with hydraulic presses have noted that the Giga Press should be operational soon enough–at least after its damaged parts are replaced and its components are cleaned up.
Fires in casting facilities are not unique to Tesla. In 2019, a fire at a General Motors metal casting plant in Saginaw, MI, broke out in an area with molten aluminum in the early morning. After extinguishing the fire, the fire department noted that while the cleanup would likely take a couple of days, the facility’s production line could be resumed earlier.

It remains to be seen if the Giga Press fire will result in delays with the production of the Model Y, which relies on the massive casting machines for its rear underbody. That being said, the fact that the machine could very well be repaired quickly suggests that Tesla’s Model Y production may not be too hampered this quarter by the unfortunate blaze.




https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-giga-press-catches-fire-video/




https://insideevs.com/news/493971/tesla-fremont-factory-fire-giga-press-machine/

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[Jhodgesatmb]

You do realize that there was almost no information in that post. There was probably no leak of molten aluminum, which would be very hard to catch on fire especially at the melting temperature. The hydraulic fluid is, I am sure, designed to be used in this context so it is probably not capable of catching on fire. There was definitely smoke, but smoke doesn’t damage things in a factory (it does clear the area). So it was probably a leak onto a hot surface. Maybe no real damage. And it isn’t a press or a stamping machine. It is a casting machine.

 

[Crissa]

Hydraulic fluid will catch fire, but mostly it will produce alot of smoke.

Which is probably what happened; a leak occurred that touched a hot part of the machine, you have lots of electricity there as well, and you end up with more smoke and you have to smother and cool the damaged parts to stop the reaction.

No different than a fire on an electric stove. Dangerous, yes, easy to do, yes, but the kitchen can get back to work almost immediately.

-Crissa

 

[Frankenblob]

Great nobody was hurt, can't wait to see the report of "why".

 

[MEDICALJMP]

You do realize that there was almost no information in that post. There was probably no leak of molten aluminum, which would be very hard to catch on fire especially at the melting temperature. The hydraulic fluid is, I am sure, designed to be used in this context so it is probably not capable of catching on fire. There was definitely smoke, but smoke doesn’t damage things in a factory (it does clear the area). So it was probably a leak onto a hot surface. Maybe no real damage. And it isn’t a press or a stamping machine. It is a casting machine.

“Fremont firefighters responded to a fire....”

“The fire is under control. The cause of the fire....”

The fire departments own report continues to mention fire.

What were you expecting from the article? A complete damage assessment report?

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

“Fremont firefighters responded to a fire....”

“The fire is under control. The cause of the fire....”

The fire departments own report continues to mention fire.

What were you expecting from the article? A complete damage assessment report?

My apologies. I mistakenly assumed that the post was simply a repost of the Electrek ‘article’, but this one is substantive and I was completely wrong.

 

[MEDICALJMP]

Tesla installs fire protection for the Giga Press after fire at Fremont Factory
CREDIT: FREMONTFIRE/INSTAGRAM

ByJoey Klender
Posted on March 23, 2021
New permits reveal that Tesla is taking supplemental precautions to avoid fires at the Fremont Factory. Following a fire that affected the massive Giga Press machine at Tesla’s Northern California factory in mid-March, the automaker is presumably taking an approach to prevent this from happening again, especially as it could affect production efforts as the company continues to expand.
Teslarati uncovered several new permits that have been submitted by Tesla to the City of Fremont’s Development Services Permitting System. One permit reveals that Tesla is planning to have fire protection companies install fire sprinklers in the Casting Building located at the Fremont Factory. The permit will take care of the “DCM Castings 2 building,” DCM referring to “die-casting machines.”

Credit: IDRA

Along with the entire sprinkler system outfitting in Fremont’s DCM Castings 2 building, Tesla also filed for two permits that will oversee the installation of new Fire Alarm Systems at both DCM 1 and DCM 2. The alarms would alert any employees near the massive IDRA casting machines in the event of a fire, which is rare even though the machines house molten aluminum for the vehicles. However, Tesla is taking every precaution necessary to avoid what happened a few weeks ago.

Interestingly, the filings say that the installation of “new fire alarm devices to canopy” hints that the old alarms could have been damaged in the fire or malfunctioning. This is unclear, but it seems new devices will be installed near both die-casting machines.

On March 11th, it was reported that Tesla’s Giga Press machines caught fire. It was later reported that the molten aluminum and hydraulic fluid that are used to operate the machine ignited, and Fremont’s local fire department contained the fire using sand, not water. There were no reported injuries, and it was unclear whether the blaze halted or delayed any production efforts.


While the sprinkler system and additional fire alarms are being installed, it also appears that a single stamping cell is being removed from the Fremont Factory. It is unclear whether this is the affected IDRA machine or if it is a different unit altogether. However, Tesla submitted this permit just a week after the fire at the Fremont factory, and it says that the removal of a stamping cell will be performed. However, it could be a separate machine and could simply need to be replaced after several years of high-volume vehicle production.

The Fremont Factory constantly is the subject of revisions and new additions due to Tesla’s high-volume production efforts. The installation of fire alarms and sprinkler systems seems like an ideal solution to the possible outbreak of a fire at the facility. It could save lives and keep Tesla’s production efforts up and running as the company continues to expand and grow.


https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-fremont-giga-press-fire-protection-filings/

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