June 07--Numerous fire crews were called Thursday morning to a Mohnton manufacturing plant that makes large gyroscopelike devices that stabilize yachts.
No one was injured in the fire about 9:50 at Seakeeper Inc., 6 Front Street Plaza, behind the Citizens Bank branch in the first block of East Wyomissing Avenue. The company is based in Maryland.
Mohnton Fire Company Deputy Chief Joshua Keller estimated the fire caused more than $600,000 in damage.
The fire started accidentally by a spark from an acetylene torch that a worker was using to cut a pipe during a renovation project, Keller said. The spark traveled through the opening around the pipe to an adjacent room, where it ignited cardboard boxes. The fire spread up the wall to the ceiling, he said.
Firefighters got to the plant quickly, despite some initial confusion in initial dispatches about the correct address, Keller said. Firefighters were first dispatched to the bank.
Workers were out of the plant before firefighters arrived, he said. Firefighters put out the smoldering fire within minutes of finding it.
Fire police blocked traffic on East Wyomissing Avenue between Chestnut and Church streets for about an hour.
Keller called for a second alarm because of a shortage of volunteer firefighters available to respond during the day. Crews from the Shillington, West Reading, Kenhorst and Brecknock Township fire companies and the Wyomissing, Western Berks and Spring Township fire departments responded. The Mount Penn Fire Company stood by at the scene in case any firefighters needed to be rescued.
A restoration contractor was to arrive at the plant Thursday afternoon to repair fire damage, including burned wall studs and insulation.
The plant makes sophisticated devices called gyro stabilizers that are installed in the hulls of yachts or similar-sized boats.
Contact Steven Henshaw: 610-371-5028 or [email protected].
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