An iron oxide fire is not the same as thermite: burning iron still requires oxygen from the atmosphere, like any other fire. Thermite has its own oxidizer built

An iron oxide fire is not the same as thermite: burning iron still requires oxygen from the atmosphere, like any other fire. Thermite has its own oxidizer built-in. So I suspect a pile of iron dust wouldn't be that much different from any other combustible dust in terms of fire risk. None of the websites I can find mention iron as an example of a metal fire when talking about the dangers of using water on them. Metals like magnesium and lithium yes. But not iron: https://www.isystemsweb.com/metal-fires/ https://www.isystemsweb.com/metal-fires/ This source talks about the use of water firefighting at steel mills. That's not quite the same thing as powdered metal. But still illustrative: https://firesafeworld.com/fire-safety-in-iron-and-steel-industries-code-of-practice/ https://firesafeworld.com/fire-safety-in-iron-and-steel-indu... As you'd expect, water on hot metal will lead to steam explosions. But from the sounds of it, the simplest solution to that problem is keep your distance, and keep putting water on the fire until it overwhelms the heat capacity of the molten metal.