RG Steel officials said it will take about a week to repair the blast furnace that was damaged during a fire early Saturday.
Production has been halted, and about 100 of 1,000 workers will take voluntary layoffs at the Warren Township plant for about the next week, said spokesperson Bette Kovach. A start-up date is set for next weekend.
Three fire companies responded to the plant on Pine Avenue around 2 a.m., after what company officials are calling a "break out" inside the blast furnace.
According to a press release from the company, a break out is when contents "break out" of the furnace and is unanticipated. The contents which "broke out" were primarily made of coke, a soft coal that has been baked at high temperatures and is used in the making of steel.
"Material inside the furnace, which is used to make iron, has left the furnace unanticipatedly, and fortunately nobody was injured," said Kovach.
Kovach said the blast furnace is just one aspect of steel production. Raw materials are put inside to make iron, which is one step of the steel-making process. Kovach said the loss of the furnace will affect steel production for at least a week, but will not affect customer orders. She said workers may not be affected by the halt in production.
"Right now there is no steel making at the Warren plant until we can get the blast furnace back online," said Kovach. "We are continuing to roll hot string sheets, hot bands through the hot mills for delivery to the downstream customers, which are rolling mills located elsewhere. The iron making suffered some damage to a tweeter, which is critical part of the furnace mechanics. We have identified that the repairs are needed. We will continue to process orders that are already in the pipeline. We will use slabs being semi-finished from our inventory to complete orders."
Sources said a meeting took place Sunday afternoon between the Iron Workers union and RG Steel representatives.
No cause for the incident has been determined.
Fire officials in Lordstown said no one was injured in the incident. Lordstown was assisted by fire crews from Howland and Warren Township.
According to the company website, RG Steel in Warren is an integrated flat-rolled steel producer with an emphasis on custom carbon, alloy and ultra high strength steel.
An explosion at RG Steel in October of 2011 shut the plant down for a day.
