Holi Powder or Gulal dust :- Assessment of potential underlying mechanisms of fire and explosion hazards during mass Holi parties and gatherings
#Ujjain #Mahakal #Mahakaleshwartemple #fireincident #hse #ehs #esg #environment #industrialsafety #occupationalsafety #sustainability
?Dear Folks,
What might have caused or led to the recent #fireincident in MahakaleshwarTemple in Ujjain? What could be the probable causes of this fire incident that broke out inside the Garbha Griha (sanctum sanctorum) of the Temple?
Well a magistrate inquiry has been ordered and the root cause of this unforeseen event will be known to everyone in coming days.
?Here an attempt is being made to assess the potential underlaying mechanisms of fire and explosion hazard during mass #Holi gatherings and parties in India and also find out the probable causes of this perticular fire incident occured at Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain.
Recent fire incident happened on Monday 25th March 2024 morning at Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain has brought immidiate attention of all concerned. A major Fire broke out in the sanctum sanctorum (Garbha Griha) of the Temple, injuring 14 priests. The incident took place during the ‘bhasma aarti’. It is believed that there was some chemical in the Holi Powder or gulal which caused the sudden fire. According to the eyewitnesses, #gulal was thrown inside the Garbha Griha as part of the Holi celebration. Some people believe chemicals inside gulal may have triggered the fire.?
Let us assess how chemicals or other additives in the #Holipowder or #Gulal can trigger a sudden fire.
?One of the major and probable cause of sudden fire inside the Garbha Griha could be dust cloud explosion or simply Dust Explosion. In majority of the temples in India, Garbha Griha or sanctum sanctorum is a confined space or enclosed location without proper exhaust ventilation leading to one of the contributing factor for dust explosion.
A dust explosion is the rapid combustion of fine particles suspended in the air within an enclosed location. The size of the dust particles also is of paramount importance. The European standards for the classification of explosion hazard zones provide separate definitions of dust, flammable dust, and volatile agglomerates of flammable fibers. Dust is a general term that includes flammable dusts and volatile agglomerates of flammable fibers. Flammable dust stands for fine particles of solids, with a nominal size under 500 μm, which can form explosive mixtures with the air under atmospheric pressure and at normal temperature.?
?There are five necessary conditions for a #dustexplosion to occur:-
1.???A combustible dust
2.???The dust is dispersed in the air within certain flammability limits
3.???There is an oxidant (typically atmospheric oxygen)
4.???There is an ignition source
5.???The area is confined?– a building can be an enclosure
Dust explosions can occur where any dispersed powdered combustible material is present in high-enough concentrations in the atmosphere or other oxidizing gaseous medium, such as pure oxygen.
In the current case, i.e. Ujjain Mahakal Temple fire case, the ignition sources may include flame due to burning camphor balls, earthen lamp containing vegetable oil, sparks caused by mechanical impact or sparks formed by friction, as well as static discharge sparks or static electricity (cone, spark discharges). In such cases Ignition may be initiated, and this is due to the fact that the powders become airborne as a result of cloud formation, and become exposed to a light, hot surface, light bulb, the surface of a heated device, or even static electricity. The minimum ignition temperature might have reached during Bhasm Aarti inside the enclosed location or confined space such as ie Girbha Griha with no or limited ventilation. This could happen when flammable Holi powder or Gulal dust which was dispersed in air become airborne or directly thrown unintentionally on the ignition source resulting in explosion and sudden fire.
It is also to be noted that there is no available data on the susceptibility of the coloured fine powders to ignition and explosion.
An explosion hazard results from the presence of flammable corn starch powder and Holi powder or gulal dust, which contain very fine corn starch. Their mixture with the air may have form explosive atmospheres.?
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