Ascent - Summer 2025
Precast Protects Life
2025-07-04 12:25:05
PRECAST PLANT SEES PRECAST’S BENEFITS
There was nothing particularly special about October 2, 2024, in Hawley, Minn., a quiet town of 2200 people just 20 miles east of Fargo, N.D. It was a typically busy day at Taracon Precast 11 miles northeast of town when, just after 5:00 p.m., a spark got into a fuel depot, followed quickly by fire and an explosion. The blaze was extinguished after about four hours; five damaged precast concrete wall panels and double tees were quickly replaced a few days after the event. Precast concrete components prevented much more serious damage. “If the plant was a steel or wood structure, most of the building would have been destroyed,” said Alan Cartwright, vice president of production. Except for some soot, the walls and roof a few feet away were completely undamaged.
“Total cost of the damage and cleanup was $7 million,” said Cartwright. “It would have been significantly higher if the structure was not precast concrete. If the structure was steel or wood, we would have lost the entire building as well as everything inside, which would have been damaged beyond repair. The loss would have easily been four times what it was.”
Various areas of the plant were out of commission for two to seven days, as electrical power had to be reconnected and debris cleared away. Nobody was injured. “Employees did a great job of notifying others and utilizing radios to inform each other while following the company’s fire safety protocol,” Cart-wright said.
Precast concrete producers regularly extol the benefits of precast concrete, but Taracon Precast found out up close and personal exactly how beneficial precast concrete is when the unexpected happens on an ordinary day.
Ascent has a Precast Protects Life story in every issue. If you have an example of how a precast concrete project was constructed to resist a storm, earthquake, blast, or fire, or has withstood such an event, email details to marketing@pci.org.
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