Officials provide update on massive fire at SPS Technologies in Abington, Pennsylvania

we're going to go live now thanks uh Kate to this uh press conference SPS Technologies a warehouse fire in Abington that's been burning for many hours overnight let's listen in officials we have commissioner Bill ball uh represents Ward 13 and vice president of our board Matt Bey who represents Ward 12 uh both are representing a lot of the residents that live in the area that was impacted today uh joining me this morning um is Chief of Police from Township John Fry John slaven excuse me and uh chief of police in Jen Town Tom Scott we have uh Tom mckin up here he is our Emergency Management coordinator Mike Jones our fire chief from Abington Keith Maslin our fire chief from Wen fire company and we also have Chris Platz here our Abington Township Fire Marshal so last night at approximately uh 9:35 we received call 911 calls of of an explosion uh within 10 minutes um Chief Glenside Weldon Fire Company arrived on scene and they were met with multiple explo explosions and they quickly entered to make sure there were no employees inside we learned later that approximately 60 employees were inside and by the grace of God not one of them was injured and they were were able to evacuate um this quickly escalated from Welden fire company to multiple alarms uh 1 in the morning a fourth alarm went out but within 30 minutes we had a second alarm and um um we had 68 different fire companies arrive from around the area um so at this point there were no injuries to any responding Personnel although we're not sure with with those hazardous materials that um all of our First Responders were exposed to um um thankfully nobody needed to be treated but we we just have some concerns about that we put a shelter in place order out um within one mile radius and that still is in place now on location in Glenside we still have um Aqua SEPTA we have the uh Pennsylvania Department of um Environmental Protection and the federal EAP is down there we also had responding the um Buck County Montgomery County and Chester Count's Departments of Public Safety join the efforts down there um hasz met teams and DP Personnel are still monitoring the air and the runoff water at the scene within that one mile Zone they had not detected any threats uh to the public at this point so thank God for that all the tests so far have been coming out negative um the monitoring will continue in the coming days and um we will continue to cooperate with our partners in public safety the ones who are represented up here um this morning so we have fire experts up here we have Fire Marshals elected officials um if there are any questions that that you have I just wanted to provide you with a brief overview of of the the response last night I could not be more proud of the efforts of our um our paid and mostly Volunteer Fire Personnel who really fought this fire all night and are out on the scene continuing to fight this fire they're doing amazing work and uh can never take them for granted so very appreciative of that yes is the fire out not no it's still smoldering and uh they're still they're still actually fighting it and and trying to keep it contained so we have it we have it contained to the center of the building can you talk more about your concerns in terms of the Hazmat realm in terms of the air quality and then the concern with anything getting in the water supply I'm going to turn that over to uh one of our fire chiefs we have pre-planned that building uh over over the years multiple times and we were aware of what chemicals were in there um we had concerns that if some of the heat training chemicals were to mix they could uh form form arsenic which could be uh in the air and the smoke that was coming off at the fire so so we Ed on the side of safety shelter in place to make sure it didn't have happen um we also knew where the chemical and heat treating areas were inside the building and we concentrated our efforts to keep the fire away from those chemical and uh uh so far it has worked out for us and early results of air quality and then water testing shows that there have been no chemicals correct correct it was it's continuous monitoring of the air and of the the water that's that's running off from the fire and and right now there's no no hazardous chemicals that we can report and then what's your timeline for the future testing to ensure you know the next few hours or days that there will not be any present we are confident that most if not all of the runoff is held on site in retention basins and in holding tanks the floor drains in the chemical areas drain into those tanks um so the uh the ccs and the water supplies around the uh uh the the site uh are not affected we heard that there was a chemical explosion back in November um your employee had mentioned that and I was curious whether this was connected to the same source of that and whether you guys respond that um it's really too early to tell do we know where exactly I'm sorry I missed the very beginning we know exactly where the fire started we do not it was already uh well involved inside the building on our arrival how many employees were inside 60 60 were they able to s yes correct can you get back to how many responding fire departments in the area was it 660 6 6 68 yes 68 um and then in terms of the school districts in the area that are closed is that a direct result of the concern for the air quality water runoff things of that nature correct and the and all the uh the firefighting uh gear apparatus and hose that's still in the area that would be impossible for a lot of the kids to get out and get to school um but yes are in the side of safety to make sure that uh that the air quality and the water runoff is not harmful do you anticipate if tests future tests come back today positive so that there are not any contaminants found in the water or the air that school would resume in these districts tomorrow or would they be held off until further testing the plan is to uh to open schools tomorrow that's the goal we we will continue to monitor to be sure that it's safe that decision is made in in conjunction with the school districts and the private schools and you mentioned Addington and and work inside there in recent years um do they have any fire um Fighters or anybody on premisis just through the company um SPS technology does have a fire brigade that was on site at the time I believe all three shifts there was a fire brigade on site so they responded first and they yes they were in the building and responded first and they're the ones that well several employees called out for 911 for ours I would imagine just like the chemicals and everything that they do have protocols in place I mean just how did this how did this can you talk a little bit about like how this those protoc or you know beyond the capacity were able to I believe when the explosions happened I'll let the Fire Marshall talk more about that yeah when it comes down to the protocols and things like that uh SPS technology does have their own protocols in place and standards and procedures they follow follow it's uh extremely early in the investigation to figure out at what point if anything did work well or didn't work well to even assess where we're at um as they mentioned before we're still under the fire suppression efforts right now the investigation of the incident hasn't even started yet was the fire contained to I know it's a large Warehouse was the fire contained to a portion of the warehouse did it destroy a lot of that warehouse uh there's significant damage throughout so no idea on when the building will reopen no we can't provide that any sort of data on that yet and can you talk a little bit about what they do what they manufacture uh to my understanding SPS manufactures uh Fasteners and other type of small metal equipment for Aerospace and other sort of Industries in that nature um and there are chemical processes involved in that and it's a big employer for this area yes it's a large employer in the area any idea for how much longer that shelter in place the mile radius will be in place you said it's currently still under the the shelter in place is still intact right now uh and it's going to remain there until we can determine that it is safe and partnering with our agencies of the EPA the D the HazMat team to assess are there any ongoing risks um that'll be a joint decision that's made um through the the coordination between those entities and can you expound or one of you expound on what that shelter in place means if people live in that radius should they stay inside if they own a business should they not open in the business I going take that one well yes um the goal is to have everybody stay inside um right now we're you know it's frigid outside so everybody has their Windows shut already uh as part of their normal daily life and um you know the the thing about heaters and and things like that they recirculate air so um it's very little outside air that should be entering the homes so that's why we feel comfortable with the the shelter in place um as as far as businesses go you know that's a an individual decision for those business owners um you know but we would caution people to out of an abundance of caution if you're inside that mile radius to to remain indoors as much as possible I know you don't have a window into the future but how long would you anticipate the shelter in place remains that's a we can't really put a Time on it so the the the key is we're we're still fighting this fire it's still actively burning so um we are constantly reviewing our plans and re-reviewing the progress that we're making in that uh in that fire fight and once we get to a point where we feel the the fire is contained enough in areas that you know aren't involved in some of those uh IAL areas where you know we have been able to contain it away from that um in conjunction with discussing with d EPA and uh our Hazmat teams at that point we'll be able to make a better evaluation but as far as putting a timeline on it I I wouldn't feel comfortable putting a timeline on it right now I'm sorry can I just make sure I understand you you guys have contained the fire in areas that are not the chemical area so like it has the fire hasn't gotten into those areas where the chemicals I understand that correctly I want to make sure we we were it briefly got into some of those areas but we were able to we like as Chief Joon said the majority of our efforts were concentrated on protecting those so we were able to extinguish that uh about as quickly as possible how challenging were the firefighting conditions given the size of the fire the cold the wind and the potential for chemicals the the the cold and the wind definitely didn't help um the the the condition conditions were were you know like 30 40 mph winds I I didn't see what the the winds were but it definitely made it uh you know up the degree of difficulty in fighting this type of fire um in addition the uh you know the fire was well the building was well involved on the first unit's arrival so it had a big head start on us um but we we you know the our first our first uh job was to to make sure that the employees were evacuated we're in you know uh life safety mode we you know searches were were conducted immediately and then once everybody was accounted for um that's when we uh you know re-evaluated our options and you know change tactics as needed from where we were it looked like at one point this morning some of the fire Crews were relieved maybe or maybe moved to a different area is that the case like did you pull some yes that's that's normal in a in a fire of this magnitude um you know the the original Crews were out there at 9:45 last night pushing on you know 10 hours at this point of heavy lifting so um we have that's where you know 68 fire companies we uh we all work mutually you know Mutual Aid so we are in the process of trying to relieve some of the initial Crews which are the kind of the hometown and close to to us type of Crews so that they can go home and rest because we anticipate them having to come back and relieve the the crews that came to help could you also talk about how the extreme cold affected the fire fighting effort well yes so obviously when we're we're flowing that much water a lot of ice uh lot of firefighters covered in ice last night uh which you know we we fight these types of fires in this type of weather often but not for that type of uh longevity so it's not you know it's not like we're in Buffalo where they see this as a daily occurrence so it's a little different for us but we were able to get uh you know public works from Abington um you know they they were right on top of it brought out uh salt Crews and things like that to try and mitigate some of the The Ice and and things like that so that um you know and the local business has opened up their doors yeah yeah actually yeah some of the local businesses um the the Highland restaurant in particular um allowed us to use their restaurant right across the parking lot as a as a command post all night so we're extremely grateful for that because we were able to rehab Cruis in there as well is it unique that we're almost 10 hours into the beginning or 10 hours from the beginning of this fire and it is still not out is does that speak to the unique situation of the chemical compon component with this fire it it's not the chemical component plays into it but it it's a large old building um so it it it's old materials inside old building materials that once they they hit their ignition point it's tough to slow it down and then you you throw in the the weather conditions and things like that and it it just increases the degree of difficulty for for everything involved um at one point the it's a very large building I I don't if you see it from the the Drone and helicopter footage the the center of the building the the roof was on fire and that area is beyond the range of any of our Master streams from the the ladders and things like that so um you know we were putting as much water as we can on it but during that period that's when we were particularly concentrating on that that area where the chemicals were um because the the the uh Master streams were having trouble reaching the fire so the area where the chemicals were was in from what I'm gathering in the more of the center part of the building no they were more on the outside of okay so we were that's why we were able to protect them got it what is the plan in the coming hours today yeah uh we're continue to fight the fire until we can you know get it uh under control control and extinguished um continuing air monitoring continuing uh monitoring of of the the water system and things like that to ensure that there's no runoff no uh hazards to to anybody uh within that radius and that's kind of the the plan my understanding is they've been operating out the building for like more than a century did the age I mean ass it's been up over years did the age of the building I I would say it didn't help um you know they they have modern safety equipment in there they have a fire brigade in there things like that but U as I said earlier in any old building once you get to certain parts where it's old building materials it it it gets ahead of you and you know we do what we can I know you said 68 departments can you give us a sense of just individual firefighters many were out there help hundreds yeah hundreds um works thank you yeah and and just lastly should people do anything differently about the drinking water I just want to get back to I think the overarching concern seems to be Hazmat air quality and then any chemicals potentially in the runoff should they do anything differently until they get the all clear from you um no the the water intakes for aqua at services this area are up Upstate so there's no uh there's no Hazard that we're worried about as far as drinking water goes just you asked a question earlier and and look we're we're very fortunate that no First Responders were injured that we had no employees injured but 500 employees uh worked at that and and that's been like part of the fabric of of Abington community and I know the Commissioners are here you know ever since I was a rookie just like they were just really good paying jobs and they're doing some really important work you know with the military and also commercial Aerospace uh in Industry so the impact on a lot of lives uh is significant um and and again I just want to reiterate the the incredible work that our volunteers and the Abington Township staff and all of our partners coming together to to make sure that we are on the side of caution we're constantly uh in communication with the school superintendent not just in Abington but the chiefs of of uh Jake and town and sheltonham also talking to their respective superintendents uh to make sure that we don't bring people out unnecessarily into that zone but we're confident I think after Consulting the D EPA Aqua that we can get back up and running uh soon hopefully within the next day or so just one other thing that sepa was a great partner in this because we had to shut down um not only the West Trenton line but also the Doylestown Landsdale line um it literally comes right through the burough of jced town so um that process uh working with our partners like that um and having their commitment to to help us make sure we're keeping people safe uh especially going to work today I you can imagine people trying to get on the train to go into into town and and not being able to use their their normal uh Pathway to the to to the city and that's partly because the tracks run right by that scene yes blide station situated a little bit away from the scene but the train tracks run right by both both the both the West Trenton line and the uh uh landale oy line literally they come together um right out right outside of jenin toown station so that that is the reason why we had to make that decision promise some of these guys de that I get them back within a half an hour okay thank you ladies and gentlemen you have any other questions we'll be hanging out for a couple minutes anyway all right thanks we've been listening into a press conference held by authorities in Abington Township Montgomery uh County after an overnight warehouse fire um basically nine hours into this thing still smoldering there at a business called SPS Technologies that's right and we're told that they uh manufacturer equipment for various companies including you know airline companies and the military what we know that at this point they say about 500 people work at that facility 60 people were in the building at that time but all of them were able to evacuate safely but the concern right now is that this fire is still smoldering so there are Crews there still on scen working to uh contain those flames and make sure that they do not continue to spread along that warehouse but out of an abundance of caution they are telling people in that area within that mile radius to stay indoors because of the chemicals that are burning they are monitoring both the air quality and the water runoff from the fire the interesting thing is they said inside the actual plant there are uh containment uh areas for the water on the base of the of the the facility so there's no kind of risk right now of any of uh perhaps toxic chemicals getting mixed in with drinking water or something like that but they are continuously monitoring particularly the air at this point and you can see sort of the worst of this Flames this was uh last night the Flames uh much more contained at at this point but school districts in the area Abington and junking toown they have canceled classes today as well as parochial schools and private schools in the area are closed again out of an abundance of caution obviously the high winds cold temperatures caused a lot of problems in this firefight had multiple crws here on the scene but again 60 employees were able to self- evacuate no one was injured as far as the employees nor were any of the First Responders injured as well so that's good news in this situation and firefighter still there on scene we continue to monitor this situation for you h

2025-02-20 07:46

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