Coke plant explosion

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Down at the Clairton coke works. At least 2 reported dead, several injured. I put my 1st 9 1/2 years out of high school working in the J&L/LTV Steel coke plant in Aliquippa, PA. It was Hell on earth. I still have burn scars on my neck and arms. It was a horrible place to work. But I bought a lot of toys while I was still single working there. A Buick Electra, a Harley Superglide, and a '70 LTD Ford. All mine
I feel bad for the guys and their families who lost their lives and/or got hurt. I'll wait for that facts to come out. May the Lord have mercy on their souls.
 
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Many the dead RIP and the injured recover. My heart goes out to my brothers and sisters of heavy industry working there. I know the pain and anguish of losing coworkers at the job. Cokers are some of the dirtiest places there are. Most people have no clue as to what we do and the dangers involved
 
My first job out of college was in a large chemical plant just east of Cleveland, part of which involved coke production. I had nothing to do with the coking operation, but it was next to where I worked. They made a special grade of coke which was used by foundries, not steel mills. Not sure how it differs from metallurgical coke used by steel mills. The coke plant was a nasty workplace, happy that I did not have to work in it. But the area I did work in was not much better, just a different type of nasty. I worked there about two years, glad it is just a long ago bad memory.
 
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As a Millwright/Machinery mover, I worked in a lot of foundries & drop forge plants as an outside contractor. Those places were the closest thing to hell on earth and was glad to leave them when the job was done. I have tons of respect for the folks that toil away day after day in those types of factories. May God have mercy on the souls of the departed.
 
Wasn't sure it was still in business what with so many plants in the area closing. I was detoured through Clairton once. They opened one of the ovens to unload and I could feel the heat out on the road. Recall being in traffic at night on the Homestead Bridge while Homestead was pouring a heat. Flatcars with glowing full ingot molds in the yard. Quite a sight.
 
Wasn't sure it was still in business what with so many plants in the area closing. I was detoured through Clairton once. They opened one of the ovens to unload and I could feel the heat out on the road. Recall being in traffic at night on the Homestead Bridge while Homestead was pouring a heat. Flatcars with glowing full ingot molds in the yard. Quite a sight.
Not many steel mills still operating in the USA, at least those integrated mills that make steel starting with iron ore. I think maybe six or seven. Most domestic steel mills today mainly just melt down scrap metal, alloy it, and roll it into sheet metal and structural steel. I grew up in an Ohio steel mill town, never had the slightest interest in working in the steel mill. It shut down back in the mid 1970s, not a trace of it remains. Its coke plant was the last to close, it stayed open for about ten years longer by making and selling coke to other steel mills.
 
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While in high school we took a field trip to AK Steel in Middletown Ohio.

At the time I had no clue what I wanted to do after high school, but I knew for a fact what I didn't want to do!

My brother's best friend from HS retired from AK Steel.

He's a better man than I am, Gunga Din.
 
We had two Kaiser aluminum plants here in Spokane, one was North at Mead the other was the rolling mill out in the Valley in Trentwood. The Mead plant was the smelter, that was where the jobs on the smelter were, hot dirty work, good pay. They then put the melted aluminum in insulated hogs and hauled them two at a time out to Trentwood on flatbed trailers. I was told the melted aluminum would only loose a couple degrees in transport, out at Mead it was poured into ingots that stayed hot to the touch for days, then rolled out into aircraft wings, frying pans what have you. I never pursued a job there as well as working underground in the Silver Valley of North Idaho, neither appealed to me and I got on with a Transit Agency and worked for them for thirty nine years, never missing a paycheck via layoff. Kaiser basically supported all of the jobs in retail like Auto, Boat, Camper sales. Sporting goods stores and some clothing outlets all took a hit when Kaiser folded close to twenty years ago, we have never really recovered. This area relies on the service industry, there are still good jobs in teaching and medical but mostly service industry type jobs. Loosing out on Canadian business has hit us really hard, it used to be if you went to Costco half the cars were from Canada, especially at the stores in Colville further North, they really got hit hard.
 
I work across the river from Clairton and have 2 nephews working there.
Thankfully one works at the opposite side of the coke works and was not hurt. The other works in a lab and was off so he was safe.
When I got out of school the mills were the default employment opportunity.
My Pap was a Super in Duquesne Works and he discouraged my Dad from going there. Dad in turn discouraged me.
As a kid I used to deliver to all the local mills. National Tube, Homestead, Clairton, Duquesne, Irvin and ET.
Thank the Almighty I was never hired there.
I don't think I'd have lived this long.
Now days I don't think I could work a shift
Tough men.
 
I called on Citizens Gas and Coke in Indy for years. Had to buy special boots from vendors that were heat resistant on the soles and had steel toes and steal insteps that were over $150 just to get past the office.

Inside around the ovens was the closest thing to Hell I ever hope to see. I had to go in once when there was a shut down and they had the doors off of several ovens. The ovens could never be shut down until the plant closed down.

The heat and visual were scary. Being above the ovens was heat intense, but I found it was worse in front of an open oven. It looked what I think Hell looks like. The walls and coke were a yellowish, red and orange around the edges of the oven. Since I was a newby, they provided me with a shield to protect me from the intense heat that they were used to. I was shaking scared during the whole experience, but didn't let on, so I acted as they did.

Afterwards, I was told I was the only outsider short of contractors they allowed by and above the ovens. The reason they did, was because I was the only person who wasn't put off by the coal soot. I'd take them to lunch in my personal car (and have to have it detailed afterward), but it was worth it since i got the majority of their electrical business,

That account taught me two things. Don't make a deal getting dirty at an account.
The second be verbally appreciative when they take you to areas that are off limits to outsiders. I'd always take those guys to lunch and sneak them a bottle of Scotch or Bourbon at Christmas time.
 
My Dad went to work in a coke plant after his Dad died at the coal mine where they worked. Birmingham Al area. He said it was better than going to work, cawl into a seam on your side and dig coal for 10 hours. take your lunch with you, ect. He got a job as a roll grinder at an aluminum frondery after WW2 and was very happy.
Tom B
 

Story link to an article in the NWI Times.

I worked at Inland Steel (now owned by Cleveland Cliffs) for 30 years. Spent 20 years of that in coke plants. I was in maintenance. You have to be vigilant about safety anywhere in the mill.
 
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