Schott Glass Plant Fire

THE PLANT IS BIG, BUT IT`S SECTIONED OFF, THE FIRE WAS CONTAINED TO THE PRODUCTION AREA OF THE PLANT. BUT FIREFIGHTERS HAD TO DEAL WITH SOMETHING FEEDING THE FLAMES. FIREFIGHTERS HAD THE FIRE UNDER CONTROL IN A SHORT TIME, BUT IT WAS TOUGH TO FIGHT WHEN THEY FIRST GOT HERE. "It was black enough that you couldn`t see your hand in front of your face. So it made it very difficult to see because you didn`t know what you were fighting at the time." says Jerry Marsh of the Duryea Fire Department IN THIS SECTION OF THE SCHOTT GLASS PLANT IN DURYEA, WORKERS USE SAWS TO CUT AND SHAPE THE GLASS. THE FIRE STARTED WITH A DIAMOND SAW AND QUICKLY SPREAD TO THE ROOF. OIL, WHICH IS USUALLY USED TO LUBRICATE THE SAW, IN THIS CASE FED THE FLAMES AND MADE IT TOUGH FOR FIREFIGHTERS TO SEE. "Upon fighting the fire they found it was some kind of substance in there. Appeared to be some type of cutting oil." "About 300 people work here in different shifts throughout the day. The site manager says about 50 people were in the plant when this fire started." ONLY A FEW WORKERS WERE IN THE AREA OF THE SAW, AND EVERYONE GOT OUT WITHOUT INJURY. THE FIRE WAS CONTAINED, AND WORKERS IN OTHER SECTIONS OF THE PLANT WERE ALLOWED BACK TO WORK A SHORT TIME LATER. NOW THE SITE MANAGER SAYS SCHOTT WILL TRY TO FIND OUT HOW THE FIRE STARTED AND WHEN THEY CAN RE-OPEN THIS SECTION OF THE PLANT. ((9:09)) "It`s not a debilitating fire but it`s certainly something we don`t want. We consider our workers` safety first, and we`ll have to find out what happened." said Stephen Krenitsky, Schott Glass Site Manager THE SITE MANAGER SAYS THE SAW HAS A FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM. HE`S TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY THAT SYSTEM WAS APPARENTLY NOT WORKING. OVERALL, DAMAGE WAS CONTAINED TO THE PRODUCTION AREA AND SOME OFFICES ON THE SECOND FLOOR.