Glass leak shuts down Kalama bottle factory

A massive leak of molten glass, compared by firefighters to lava from a volcano, has shut down a new technologically advanced bottle factory that was built for the growing Pacific Northwest wine industry.

Firefighters sprayed about 1 million gallons of water in 16 hours to cool and stop the glass from escaping from the bottom of an electric furnace in time to prevent structural damage to the 175,000-square-foot plant at Kalama, 35 miles north of Portland.

No injuries were reported after the leak early Sunday, and its cause remained undetermined Tuesday, said Cowlitz Fire District 5 Capt. Terry Sinkler and Lori Lecker, a spokeswoman for Cameron Family Glass Packaging of Washington, Pa.

The leak, discovered after monitoring equipment registered a temperature loss in the area of the rupture, was adjacent to a smaller hole that was found Friday and patched by the factory staff.

About 125 tons of glass heated to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit — about twice as hot as a typical house fire — escaped into a basement containment area, and about 325 tons remained in the 470-ton capacity melter and eventually must be drained, Lecker said.

Nearly 40 firefighters were involved in the job.

Construction of the $80 million plant, described by Cameron as the first new glass plant devoted exclusively to wine-bottle manufacturing in the U.S. in 30 years, began in June 2007 and was completed in November.