A massive fire raging in an industrial complex north of Philadelphia prompted evacuations, school closures and shelter-in-place orders Tuesday as firefighters struggled to control the “unpredictable” blaze.
Air quality concerns and changing conditions led emergency personnel to advise anyone in a 1-mile radius around the flaming facility to evacuate, and schools in two districts were to be closed through at least Wednesday.
“All residents and businesses outside of the evacuation area but within the shelter-in-place zone are asked to continue to shelter in place,” emergency personnel said Tuesday afternoon. “All residents are asked to avoid the area.”
That included a halt to rail lines and buses, with service suspended on four SEPTA lines through at least the end of Tuesday. Officials instructed residents to close their windows and hunker down inside until the order was lifted.
“The shelter in place will remain in effect until the fire is fully under control due to smoke and particulate matter filtering across the area,” the municipality said in a statement on its website.
The blaze broke out Monday at around 9:30 p.m. at SPS Technologies, a manufacturer of aerospace fasteners and precision components in Jenkintown, Pa., about 10 miles north of Philadelphia in Abington Township.
Firefighters arrived to find “an active fire breaching through the roof of the building, accompanied by multiple explosions inside the facility,” Abington Township said on its website.
By 1 a.m. Tuesday, it had burgeoned into a four-alarm fire, with nearly 70 fire companies responding as the night wore on, Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy said at a briefing Tuesday afternoon.
About 60 employees were in the building at the time, Molloy said, but all escaped without injury “by the grace of God.”
The fire was more or less contained by 7 a.m., but at 11 it flared up again, sending up thick black smoke, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Toxic “ignitable waste” was onsite at the facility, and the fire-suppression sprinkler system was “out of service,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. SPS Technologies had also faced Environmental Protection Agency violations in the past, the newspaper noted.
It remained unclear Tuesday whether those chemicals posed a health risk.