Robbery thwarted. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Firefighting crews in two locales used forklifts to move storage that blocked their way to reach burning materials.

In Columbus, Ohio, about 75 firefighters battled a fire for about three hours early on 31 August at a warehouse of T Marzetti Co. The unit of Lancaster Colony Corp manufactures specialty food dips and sauces in a nearby largely undamaged plant area. The facility employs about 120 staff.

Firefighters used the forklifts to relocate large stacks of flat cardboard boxes outside the building and enable crews to more easily fight the fire.

Investigators for the Columbus fire department say they are exploring possible causes including the role, if any, of a forklift battery.

In Calgary, Alberta, Canada, crews employed two forklifts to move stacks of wooden pallets in an outside storage yard at a Coca-Cola Bottling facility early on 30 August.

According to the Calgary fire department, an arson investigation is under way. The flames exceeded the height of a four-storey building prior to the arrival of emergency responders. The fire was limited to the pile of pallets and empty soft drink syrup storage containers in a corner of the yard. Relocating some of the pallets allowed firefighters to reach those material handling skids that were the principal source of the blaze.

Meanwhile in Florida, a quick-thinking forklift operator thwarted an attempted robbery by promptly swinging his material handling machine into the aggressor, reports the sheriff's office in Lee County.

The perpetrator wore pantyhose to obscure his face and demanded money from the operator, Daniel Carpenter, 22, who was unloading supplies late on the evening of 28 August at the Wayne Wiles Floor Coverings facility in Fort Myers, Florida.

The forklift struck the robber on either his leg or foot. Carpenter received superficial arm wounds, and the robber fled the scene without any loot.