Lancaster (Pa.) Firefighters Work for Hours to Control Dustbin Fire

Lancaster, Pa.–Fire crews from nearly a dozen area companies worked for hours Thursday to control a blaze at a New Holland cabinet firm.

Units were dispatched around 3:20 p.m. to Heritage Custom Cabinetry, 215 Diller Ave., where they discovered a fire in a dust-collector bin on the roof, according to Larry Martin, chief of Liberty Fire Company in New Holland.

Martin said crews could not access the bin, which he estimated to be 50 to 55 feet tall, to quell the blaze but were able to open a hatch at the top of the bin to vent the flames.

“That left gases and flames escape. At that point, we were hoping to prevent an explosion,” he said.

For the next few hours, Martin said, firefighters let the contents of the silo burn.

“We had a ladder truck in position at the top of the bin, but, for the most part, all we could do was let the product burn off,” he said. “Once we got (the fire) down pretty good, we opened it up at the bottom and started pulling out debris.”

By the time a fire unit equipped with a piercing nozzle arrived from West Chester just before 8 p.m., the blaze had been brought under control. Martin said the nozzle, which poked a hole in the side of the bin, expedited the process of emptying the hot embers. The bin, which crews feared would collapse as they battled the blaze, was still standing Thursday night but was damaged beyond repair, Martin said. He said a small portion of the rest of the business had been affected by the fire. Martin added that the firm’s 87 employees were planning to report to work today to aid with cleanup in an effort to have the business operational by Monday.

Martin said the fire appeared to have started when there was a backup of material in the unit. He estimated the damage at $100,000.