Toxic cloud prompts warning for residents

Numerous explosions at a Glen Rock-area adhesives plant fueled a massive blaze last night, sending fireballs as high as 200 feet in the air and generating a black cloud of toxic smoke.

The fire erupted about 8 p.m. About an hour later emergency officials notified all residents within a three-mile radius of Adhesives Research Inc., 400 Seaks Run Road in Springfield Township, to stay inside, keeping windows and doors closed and ventilation systems off to reduce exposure to the toxic fumes, according to Bernadette Lauer, public information officers for the York County Office of Emergency Management.

Around 3 a.m., the “shelter-in-place” was called off and residents were given the all-clear to come out of their homes, she said.

At least four emergency workers were taken to local hospitals.

“I don’t have a firm number, but there were four emergency-services personnel who were transported ... as a precautionary measure, for non-life-threatening symptoms,” Lauer said. “I can confirm that two of them were haz-mat technicians. The other two, I’m not sure.”

It was the second time emergency crews were called to the scene yesterday. Shortly before 11:30 a.m., an explosion and small fire caused the temporary evacuation of the plant, Lauer said.

Last night, Interstate 83 was closed between the Queen Street and Shrewsbury exits from about 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., due to concerns about toxic fumes.

“They were going right over 83 at one point,” Lauer said. “As I was arriving on scene, I came down 83 and I was approximately two miles away and could see the
flames and smoke. When I arrived on scene, I saw rolling smoke, rolling flames and explosions. There were numerous, numerous emergency-services personnel on scene ... moving around. It was very busy.”

The cause of last night’s blaze, as well as the 11:30 incident, remain under investigation, according to Lauer, who said a state police fire marshal will investigate.

About 25 fire companies from Pennsylvania and Maryland, as well as York County’s Hazardous Materials Unit, responded to the four-alarm fire, she said.

“Workers were in the building, but everyone was evacuated safely and accounted for,” Lauer said.

Repeated explosions: It took fire crews nearly three hours to get the fire under control because of the multiple explosions, which rocked the west end of the building where flammable and hazardous materials are kept, she said.

“There were numerous explosions; there would be a little lull, then boom, boom, boom again,” Lauer said.

By midnight, the black cloud that hovered over the plant began to dissipate.

Haz-mat crews were on the scene to test air and water quality. Water had flowed into a deep ditch in front of the business and from there into a retaining pond.

By 9 a.m. this morning, just a few fire crews remained to monitor hot spots.

Also on scene was the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“They are ... taking air samples to determine the quality of the air, and doing water samples for the same reason,” she said. “Before I left the scene this morning (around 7:30 a.m.), the results of the water samples had not come back yet.”

Lauer said toxins were “absolutely” released into the air by the fire and explosions.

“There were dozens of chemicals in that storage area ... big canisters and boxes and bags of different kinds of chemicals,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons we took the precaution of doing a shelter-in-place. With that many chemicals, and the mix of them all, it’s hard to say what was being released into the air.”

Lauer described damage to that portion of the building as extensive, but no damage estimate was available this morning. The west wall of the building was destroyed and the roof collapsed in that area.

“The flammable-storage room is completely destroyed,” she said. “That’s not the whole building, though. There’s a fire wall on the other side of the room that did a pretty good job keeping the fire (from spreading).”

York County haz-mat crews left the scene sometime between midnight and 3 a.m., she said.

A private haz-mat company remained at the site this morning, helping with cleanup and sampling, according to Lauer.

Earlier fire: An explosion and small fire broke out at the plant earlier in the day, shortly before 11:30 a.m., but was extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system, Lauer said.

“We had an explosion in the west end of one of our storage units ... where we store most of our raw adhesive materials,” said George Cramer Jr., vice president of marketing and commercial development, of the morning incident. “Some (of the unit’s) exterior panels blew out, as designed. That is a safety measure ... (called a) pressure-release wall.”

Fire crews responded and sprayed fire-extinguishing foam, despite the fact that the fire was out, Lauer said.

Adhesives Research employs more than 400 people, but Lauer said she did not know how many were working in the building when the evening fire broke out.

The company makes customized adhesives, tapes and laminates, Cramer said. The business opened in 1961 in North York, moved to its current site in 1973 and plans to expand its operations to include a new line of pharmaceutical products, he said.

About 250 to 300 people were working when the morning explosion happened, Cramer said.

Employees knew to evacuate and where to go because of the company’s regular safety drills, according to Cramer.

Concerned resident: Donald Strickler, 57, lives along Seaks Run Road, about a half mile east of the plant. He was supposed to go to work at 10:30 p.m. last night.

But he saw on the television at 8:30 p.m. the warning that residents were to stay indoors.

He stuffed rags into the dryer vents, called off work and stayed up until 3:30 a.m. monitoring the situation.

“I was concerned. You could see the flames from the house here,” Strickler said. He lives in the home with his wife, 23-year-old son and 5-year-old granddaughter.

“I stayed here in case something else would happen.”

He said he’s not concerned about his home being near the plant and applauds firefighters for controlling the blaze.

Lauer also praised the fire and haz-mat crew members who worked throughout the night to extinguish the blaze.

“They did a great job, (especially) considering what we were dealing with,” she said. “We all went home alive, and to me that’s success.”

-- Reach Elizabeth Evans at levans@yorkdispatch.com or 505-5429. Reach Heidi Bernhard-Bubb at 505-5436 or hbubb@yorkdispatch.com.