BMW has confirmed that a fire that broke out at its Spartanburg plant in the US last Friday had minimal impact on production and was dealt with promptly by its own on-site fire department.
The fire started shortly before 07.00 in an air handling unit used to regulate and circulate air in the factory. A spokesperson for the carmaker told Automotive Logistics the fire was small and contained.
“We evacuated associates in the vicinity of the fire because there was smoke present [but the] all-clear was given after 20 minutes,” she said, adding that there was minimum impact on production and that there were no injuries.
The Spartanburg plant makes around 1,400 X-series vehicles a day.
A total of 411,000 units came off the production line last year and the facility has a maximum annual capacity of 450,000. The plant produces X3, X4, X5 and X6 models; X7 production will start in late 2018.
The Spartanburg plant suffered a similar incident back in March this year when a fire broke out in an air filter system in the body shop. That fire was also well contained and production was resumed without lengthy disruption, according to sources.
