SPS Fire Origin Still Unknown
Yesterday “The Monty Heat Treat News” had a news item about a Devastating Fireat SPS Technologies in Jenkintown, PA, USA. We mentioned this because the facility has always included a reasonably large in house heat treatment department and the fact that initial reports referred to “Heat Treat Chemicals” being the cause which could mean just about anything. No surprise that the cause of the fire is as yet unknown. “The Monty” has visited this plant over the years and the heat treat department included a variety of furnaces inlcuding batch IQ and vacuum furnaces.
In related news it is being reported that some of the products produced by this facility are sole sourced from the US military. https://www.inquirer.com/news/sps-technologies-fire-abington-manufactured-specialty-parts-20250219.html
“ABINGTON TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — A Disaster Emergency has been declared in Abington Township after a massive industrial fire at SPS Technologies in Montgomery County. There continues to be an active scene as investigators work to figure out what caused the blaze. The shelter-in-place and voluntary evacuations were lifted at 11 a.m., officials said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has conducted samplings of the Tookany Creek. They said there are low levels of chemicals in the water but that there are no drinking water intakes in that creek. There are no chemicals in the Delaware River, and officials say drinking water is safe.
They also said the air quality tests have not detected any chemicals in the air. Officials say people should feel safe going back to their homes. However, they did note that just because the orders are being lifted, does not mean they cannot be established again if the scene redevelops.
Now, two days later, smoke is still rising and much of the rubble is coated in a layer of ice from nonstop spraying. “When you look at the size of this building, some 500 thousand square feet and multilayers the difficulty to access our firefighters out in that weather and with equipment, it’s very difficult for them to completely extinguish this fire,” said Patrick Molloy, Chief of Abington Township Police.
The fire, which rose to four alarms at the height of it, prompted a shelter-in-place, voluntary evacuations and school closures. Roughly 700 people were asked to voluntarily evacuate late Tuesday afternoon “while conditions permit” because of concerns over air quality, which environmental officials are continuing to monitor.
No injuries have been reported, although officials said there are concerns that first responders could have been exposed to the hazardous materials. Sixty employees were also evacuated from the building. As of now, officials say no hazardous materials have been detected. But the EPA and the DEP continue to conduct air quality tests inside the perimeter where the fire happened and also in the neighborhood.
“We do know that they use very harsh chemicals in the aeronautical engineering process of making bolts and fasteners. So out of an abundance of caution, we made that decision to self-evacuate,” Molloy said. “It could be week before you see the effect of this type of an exposure,” said Dr. Jamie Garfield, a Temple Health pulmonologist. “And everyone is at risk, just to be clear.” The thick plumes of smoke and raging fire could be seen for miles on Monday and Tuesday as it destroying the facility, which makes fasteners for aerospace equipment.” https://6abc.com/post/sps-technologies-fire-factory-fallout-massive-blaze-industrial-complex-abington-twp-pa/15931185/
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