A cable fire, apparently caused by a spark, occurred at the steel plant at Rautaruukki’s Raahe steel works at 10.25pm in the evening of Monday 5 August, bringing steel production to a halt. The power cut caused by the fire also stopped the number 2 blast furnace, the rolling mill, coking plant, sintering plant and power plant. The coking plant and power plant were got back into operation within a few hours.
Production at the number 2 blast furnace will be started up on Tuesday in line with the start up of the steel plant. The fire caused a loss in raw iron production of about 3,000 tonnes. The rolling mill will also start up on Tuesday. The fire did not affect the operations of the number 1 blast furnace, where periodical repairs had started at the weekend. An investigation has started into the cause of the cable fire.
