Manufacturers and users of acetylene cylinders need to work together to find solutions that will reduce the risk to the public and firefighters when these cylinders are involved in fires, London Fire and Emergency PlanningrnAuthority (LFEPA) has said. Widely used for the cutting and welding of metal, acetylene cylinders can overheat and explode if they are involved in a fire. In some instances exploding cylinders have emitted a fireball of up to 25 meters andrnhave spread shrapnel over hundreds of meters.rnEarlier this year, 1,000 people were evacuated from homes and businesses and services from King's Cross main line station were suspended because of acetylene cylinders being involved in a fire on a building site. In March 1987 a fire officer was killed in Charlbury, Oxford while moving an acetylene cylinder which was thought to have cooled after 12 hours. Six others were seriously injured.
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