Friday, March 12, 1999
Workers fought fire in paper plant, delayed calling for help
BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN — An early morning blaze that caused about $250,000 damage at a local paper plant Thursday likely would have caused only minor damage if workers had called fire crews earlier, a fire official said.
The fire broke out about 12:15 a.m. during the third shift at Middletown Paperboard Corp. on Vanderveer Street. Two employees fought the blaze about 15 minutes with fire extinguishers before notifying the fire department when it suddenly got out of control, said Jeff Spaulding, fire inspector with the Middletown Division of Fire.
“That allowed the fire to get a head start and start attacking the roof structure,” Mr. Spaulding said. “They probably reacted appropriately (and as they were trained) in getting fire extinguishers to put it out. But simultaneously they should have called 911 ... the damage probably would have been minor ... if we had been called right away.”
One worker, Ken Freeman, 52, was treated for smoke inhalation and released from Middletown Regional Hospital. There were no other injuries in the fire. The loss was in sured.
The blaze, which is still under investigation, apparently started in a Bobcat — a small, front-end loader — which an employee was using to feed raw material into a beater, Mr. Spaulding said.
General Manager Tom Amedro defended his employees' actions in trying to knock down the fire. Mr. Amedro said the fire started out small and workers thought they could put it out with extinguishers kept nearby.
“But it appears a hydraulic hose on the machine sprung a leak, and the hydraulic fluid hit the turbo charger and ignited,” Mr. Amedro said. “The flames flared up so quickly it got out of control, got into the ceiling where there was some paper dust, where it caught fire pretty quickly.”
Mr. Spaulding said the cause has not been officially determined.
The fire, which was confined to the beater room and roof, halted production at the plant, which employs about 70 people. It uses 100 percent recycled paper to make paperboard for such things as hardback books and game boards. The plant should be back in operation today, but the shutdown will cost the company about $25,000, Mr. Amedro said.
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