GIBSONIA, Pa. (AP) — Scores of firefighters battled a blaze that destroyed a metal fabricating and recycling plant in western Pennsylvania over the weekend.
Fire crews were called just after 6:30 a.m. Saturday to the TNT Metals plant in West Deer Township.
Chief Josh Wiegand of the West Deer Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 said arriving firefighters saw a lot of smoke and flames in the center of the 150-by-300-foot building.
Wiegand said 50 to 60 firefighters from nine departments battled for almost three hours before bringing the blaze under control. He said they were hampered by the cold and by the materials involved, since the building housed magnesium and other highly flammable materials that ignited during the fire.
While there were no major explosions, “we did have some minor reactions from the metal,” he said.
An Allegheny County fire marshal will try to determine the cause of the blaze.
TNT Metals president Rick Tibensky called it “truly devastating” but vowed to rebuild, saying “We’re going to go on.” The company says on its website that the firm was founded in 2003 and has been “buying and selling metals in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia for over 15 years.”
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