Firefighters battle fires Sunday and Monday in N. Strabane
North Strabane firefighters and mutual aid companies work to put fire hose back on the fire engine after extinguishing a fire at Ametek Metals on Route 519 late Monday night.
Courtesy of North Strabane Township Fire Department
North Strabane Township firefighters work to extinguish a fire late Monday night at Ametek Metals on Route 519.
North Strabane Township firefighters work to extinguish a house fire on Meadowbrook Drive early Monday morning.
Firefighters stayed busy in North Strabane Township Monday fighting an early morning house fire followed by a commercial fire late that night.
Crews responded to the house fire at 1061 Meadowbrook Drive about 12:28 a.m. North Strabane assistant fire Chief Richard Yosi said the homeowner woke up to find fire on the back exterior of the house. He said the family of four was able to evacuate the home safely.
Chief Mark Grimm said the house, which was insured, wasn’t destroyed, but the interior sustained smoke and water damage. Grimm said the fire wasn’t suspicious, but the state police fire marshal will investigate the cause.
At 10:35 p.m., the department responded to reports of a furnace explosion at Ametek Metal, in the 1000 block of state Route 519.
Yosi said the lining of an electric induction furnace, used to melt down materials, “became compromised.” It exploded, but no one working in the building was injured, he said.
“They have a safety monitoring system that notified employees that the equipment malfunctioned and that failure was imminent,” he said.
“So they were able to evacuate the area.”
The explosion blew molten metal into the ceiling and wall, which started small fires in those areas and eventually the roof, Yosi said. Crews were at the scene until about 1 a.m. Tuesday, working to extinguish the fire.
Grimm said the building had minimal damage.
“They do take safety extremely seriously,” Grimm said about Ametek. “All the measures they had in place made everything much easier for us and them.”
Assisting North Strabane at both fires were firefighters from Peters, Canonsburg, and Washington along with EMS crews.