York County Factory Fire | News

York County Factory Fire

May 6, 2008

RED LION, YORK CO. — A factory in York County goes up in smoke on Tuesday afternoon. More than 20 fire companies were called in to fight the fire at Apex Urethane Millwork.

The company manufactures molding for buildings.

"It was a normal day. Everything was going fine. All of a sudden, we heard screaming in the office," said Michael Sampere, CEO of Apex Urethane Millwork.

This was followed by intense smoke and dozens of fireman trying to dampen the flames.

"The flames were pretty high. We have a three story building and they were probably shooting about 25 feet above the top floor," added Sampere.

The huge fire was a grueling battle for the firemen in the spring heat. But an even tougher challenge for the hazmat team; when flames reacted with chemicals inside the molding plant, making a composition called cyanide, a deadly chemical that crews were able to contain.

"There certainly was a concern given the time of day. You're talking mid afternoon with schools letting out and there was a pretty good plume of smoke coming out at the peak of the fire," said Brian Morrin, of York County Emergency Management.

Several air quality tests proved the area to be safe, though firefighters were armed with gas masks as a precaution.

"Thankfully, they didn't find anything nasty in the air, "added Morrin.

"The building industry is pretty tough now and everyone is struggling to make a product. The last thing you need is to have something like this happen," added Sampere.

As for the employees, work was not cancelled for Wednesday. The CEO is bringing them in to help clean up the fire damage.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire.