A large fire broke out at the SPS Technologies manufacturing complex in Abington, Pennsylvania, on Monday night, prompting a shelter-in-place order for residents within a one-mile radius. The blaze, which involved multiple explosions, drew a massive response from firefighters. Officials expressed concerns about air quality and water contamination due to the company's use of chemicals in its manufacturing processes.
Residents of Abington, Jenkintown and Cheltenham were ordered to shelter in place and schools were closed for the day.The blaze has prompted concerns over air quality and water runoff, as the company is known to use heat-treating chemicals for its manufacturing processes.
Officials had not said the fire was fully contained as of midday Tuesday.Police received multiple 911 calls of an explosion at SPS Technologies starting shortly after 9:30 p.m. Monday. First responders arrived to multiple explosions at the complex, and ultimately, firefighters from 68 fire companies responded to the 4-alarm blaze, Abington Police Chief Patrick Molloy said.In the wake of the blaze, officials issued a shelter-in-place order for residents within a one-mile radius of SPS Technologies’ property due to concerns over air quality and water contamination. The shelter-in-place zone is home to about 17,300 residents, according to an Inquirer analysis of Census Bureau population data.Florence Avenue between Runnymede Avenue and West AvenueRodman Avenue between Walnut Street and Runnymede AvenueMyrtle Avenue between Runnymede Avenue and Rodman AvenueOfficials also set up an evacuation shelter in the auditorium of Cheltenham High School, located at 500 Rices Mill Rd. in Wyncote. Residents who are able to self-evacuate should drive to the high school or another location outside the evacuation area, township officials said. Those who were not located in the evacuation area, but are within the previously established one-mile radius of the SPS Technologies complex, were asked to continue to observe the shelter-in-place order. Other residents were asked to avoid the area.-Doylestown and Warminster regional rail lines Tuesday after the fire prompted its Jenkintown station to shut down, an agency spokesperson said. There was no immediate timeline for reopening as of Tuesday morning. No water quality concerns or disruptions to water service in the area were reported early Tuesday, an spokesperson for Aqua Pennsylvania said.SPS Technologies’ history dates back to 1903, when founder Howard “H.T.” Hallowell Sr. established the company in Philadelphia as the Standard Pressed Steel Co. It has been operating in Montgomery County since 1920, and manufactures precision metal fasteners and special machined parts for the aviation and aerospace industries. The company took on its current moniker in 1978, and was purchased by the Warren Buffett-run conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway in 2015 for $32 billion. Some of its well-known customers have included high-profile aerospace industry manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus, as well as NASA, GE, and Rolls-Royce.and Tookany creeks to the south and east. The property is classified as a chemical treatment, storage, and disposal facility, and it regularly handles large volumes of potentially toxic chemicals including trichloroethene, vinyl chloride, and 1-2 dichloroethane as part of its manufacturing processes.have discovered issues at the company’s Abington complex dating back to the 1980s , when officials began investigating underground storage tanks that had leaked a chlorinated solvent known as trichloroethene into groundwater beneath the facility. Low levels of the solvent showed up in groundwater samples until 2010, and small amounts of cadmium, a heavy metal, were detected through 2012. Since then, the company has taken several corrective actions for other violations. Most recently, in 2023, it reached an agreement with the EPA to pay $109,805 for failing to properly store and mark hazardous waste on site. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also issued a number of fines to the company over dangerous industrial mishaps in recent years. In 2023, for example, investigators found that SPS Technologies had failed to install proper safety guards around a piece of factory equipment, and issued the company a $10,000 fine after a worker’s hand and arm were crushed in the machine. Additionally, at least one neighbor told The Inquirer that she had witnessed previous fires at the company’s facility, saying that SPS Technologies is a “great company” with an unfortunate track record. Staff writers Frank Kummer, Robert Moran, Rodrigo Torrejón, Jesse Bunch, Ryan Briggs, and Joseph N. DiStefano contributed to this article.
FIRE EXPLOSION SHELTER-IN-PLACE EVACUATION CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION SPS TECHNOLOGIES ABINGTON PA
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