Fire causes substantial damage to foundry

October 04, 2002|by RICHARD BELISLE

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - A mid-afternoon fire, the second in a Franklin County industrial facility Thursday, caused substantial damage to a building occupied by Castings Technologies Inc., a foundry at 730 Clayton Ave., Waynesboro Fire Chief Dale Fishack said.

There were no injuries in either fire.

The cause and total damage estimates were still being investigated in the Waynesboro fire, Fishack said. He estimated damage to the foundry's electrical system to be around $100,000.

There was structural damage to steel beams that buckled from the heat, he said.

Castings Technologies, which makes castings for the machine tool industry, has 23 employees, co-owner Mark Cogan said.

He said the shift left the building at 2 p.m., its normal quitting time. Cogan said he was in the building shortly after 3 p.m. when he saw flames and called 911.

The fire is believed to have started in the center of the building, Fishack said.

Cogan said employees had been making castings in the plant Thursday but not near the area where the fire originated, he said.

Fishack said wooden pallets were located in that area.

The chief said the plant likely will be closed for some time while repairs are being made.

He said the borough's fire marshal and an electrical inspector were to check the building today.

Smoke poured from a huge vent on the roof and from windows around the two-story building. Tower trucks dumped firefighters onto the roof while others hauled hoses inside the building.

Earlier Thursday a fire broke out at D.L. George and Sons Manufacturing, a steel fabrication plant at 3791 Church Road in Chambersburg.

Thursday's fire was the second at the Casting Technologies plant.

In 1999, slag being carried in a huge pot to an outside dumping pit exploded when it hit some cold water, spewing fragments over a wide area around the Clayton Avenue area. The byproduct of the smelting process landed on cars, lawns and on roofs of several houses starting several small fires.

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