Suspect Fire at Win. Ammo Plant!

[erudne]

Firefighters said the blaze broke at a maintenance building on the site of Winchester Ammunition plant in East Alton just before 3:30 a.m. Authorities said propane cylinders exploded, but those cylinders were isolated from more dangerous materials.

The Winchester fire took place shortly after an abandoned building burned in another part of town.
The cause of each fire is under investigation.
As this fire broke out in a maintenance building and not a production area, we do not know at this time if ammunition production will be hampered.
We’ve contacted Winchester representatives, and will update this story as we know more about the fire’s impact (if any) on production.

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[Certaindeaf]

It probably looked like a substation. lol

Sniper fire on Silicon Valley power grid spurs ex-regulator's crusade - CNN.com

 

[cookie]

The 22 lr plant????

 

[erudne]

PB Clermont, the Belgian subsidiary of EURENCO which <broken link removed> "one of the largest spherical powder production capacities in the world for small and medium calibre ammunition" experienced a significant explosion this past Friday afternoon after most employees had gone home for the day.
[English-language news outlets have completely ignored the story, and so Bearing Arms is attempting to report on the story via articles written in French and Dutch and translated via Google Translate, the search giant's machine translation tool. Please bear with us if the translated text sounds stilted or just plain bizarre.]
Belgian news source RTBF reported Friday (via Translate): There was an explosion, about seventeen hours, blowing snow Engis, the company PB Clermont. This firm huttoise the suburb is classified Seveso. The balance sheet, according to preliminary information, is limited to two minor injuries. But as a precaution, the "white plane" communal mobilization phase of the emergency services had been triggered. the plane was lifted in the early evening, around 19:30. The home is now under control.
The explosion apparently blew a grinding unit. Early indications for the emergency services, a building was seriously damaged, but only minor injuries to two workers are reported.
This is blowing for nearly two centuries. It belongs to the French multinational Giat, the former owner of the FN. It employs a hundred persones. She works gunpowder, ammunition for small and medium size, and loads of explosives for civil use.
Translated from Google Gibberish French into English, the article tells us that after most employees left for the day at around 5:00 PM local time, a building used to grind gunpowder components exploded, injuring two employees still on site.
As the photo above shows, the building (top left) was destroyed in the blast and fire, with only the frame apparently remaining. On-site company fire crews were able to quickly contain the blast. Local firefighters showed up, stood around, and looked bored.

An update from RTBF notes that the plant is still shutdown today [again, via Translate]:

The activity of blowing Engis, PB Clermont Society, is still at a standstill Tuesday. Several days will still certainly necessary external experts sent there since Monday to determine the exact cause of the explosion last Friday destroyed a building on the site, fortunately causing two minor injuries.
What is it exactly happened last Friday on the website of PB Clermont?What caused the explosion that destroyed 107 buildings on the site? Investigations are underway since Monday in collaboration with several external experts. Identifying the causes should still take several days. The site classified "Seveso" is, since the accident, fully secure.
Translate is obviously having some issues, as there is no way 107 buildings were "destroyed" by a blast and fire that was contained before local firefighters could respond. I think it more likely that 107 buildings were damaged by the blast, which did shatter many windows.
It doesn't sound like that big of a deal on the surface. A company in Europe has an explosion that barely makes the news, even there.
But when you start looking at who partners with PB Clermont , and who the company supplies with gunpowder, and things start getting much more interesting. PB Clermont supplies powder under their own name, and also apparently supplies powder for Alliant, Barnual, Bofors, and Vihtavuori (Bofors and Vihtavuori are both part of EURENCO).
How soon the company will be able to replace the lost production capability, and what this may mean to the already stretched-thin U.S. ammo market, is unknown at this time.
Bearing Arms attempted to contact ATK Sporting Group (maker of Federal Premium, CCI, Fusion, Speer Ammo, Estate Catridge, and Blazer lines of ammunition, as well as supplier of Alliant Powder) for comment via both telephone and email earlier, and have received no response​

 

[chemist]

I think major damage was probably isolated to Building #107.