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New Fire at NovelisOswego Plant Puts Restart Plans in Doubt

Crews extinguished the blaze with no injuries reported, leaving automakers waiting on damage checks.

Overview

  • Thursday’s five-alarm fire began around 8:45 a.m. in the hot mill and spread to the roll shop before being declared out by late afternoon, according to county officials and Novelis.
  • More than 80 firefighters from roughly 20 departments responded, and crews remained on site for hours to monitor after the evacuation of all workers.
  • A joint Novelis-Ford update said the cold mill and heat treatment operations are back running and shipments to Ford continue, even as the full extent of damage is still being assessed.
  • Novelis had targeted a late-December restart for the heavily damaged area from September’s major blaze, a timetable now uncertain after this latest incident.
  • The Oswego facility supplies roughly 40% of U.S. automotive aluminum sheet, and earlier disruptions led Ford to pause F-150 Lightning output and project a $1.5–$2 billion earnings hit.