GALLATIN, Tenn.-Records show the Gallatin Fire Department failed to conduct ongoing inspections of a metal powders plant with a long history of emergency calls and where five workers have died in flash fires this year.
The Tennessean reported that documents obtained under a public records request showed that the fire department had been called out to the Hoeganaes plant 36 times for emergencies, including fires and medical calls, in the past 15 years.
A flash fire in January killed two workers, and a May 27 explosion killed another three. The documents showed at least eight workers were hospitalized in the incidents over the years, in addition to the five killed and three burned this year.
When questioned by a reporter on May 11 about why the facility had not been visited by a Gallatin fire inspector since 2002, Chief Billy Crook said he needed more inspectors to conduct annual fire inspections of every building in the city.
Senior Fire Inspector Mark Parrish conducted an inspection of the Hoeganaes facility the next day on May 12, but there was no mention of the presence of accumulations of combustible dust.