An employee was lucky not to be injured or killed after a compressor malfunction caused an explosion at a plant in the town of Oneonta, the city fire chief said Monday.
The Oneonta Fire Department was called by 911 to respond to Burt Rigid Box Co., 58 Browne St., at 12:29 p.m., and crews were at the scene by 12:37 p.m., Patrick Pidgeon, Oneonta Fire Department chief, said.
The cause was a mechanical failure in a large air compressor, Pidgeon said, and the malfunction caused a fire, which led to an explosion and more fire.
No one was injured, Pidgeon said. A sprinkler system kept the fire “at bay,” he said, and the fire was mostly out by the time crews arrived.
Burt Rigid Box Inc. manufactures custom paperboard packaging.
Pidgeon said plant employees had been in the company’s parking lot for lunch when they saw smoke coming from a vent and called 911.
An employee went to check and saw smoke coming from a mechanical room housing the air compressor, Pidgeon said. The employee closed the door to the room, which Pidgeon said was a commendable fire-safety measure. But as the employee was leaving, an explosion occurred and the doors were blown open, the chief said.
Pidgeon said it “was very fortunate” that the employee wasn’t hurt or fatally injured.
Greg Ward, operations manager at Burt Rigid Box, said the employee had closed a vent, not a door, so that the smoke would go outside the building instead of into the manufacturing area. That action helped reduce smoke damage but the employee wasn’t in danger, Ward said.
Meanwhile, staff at the nearby New York State Electric and Gas Corp. office had heard the explosion and called 911. Emergency crews then turned off the electricity at a utility pole, Pidgeon said.
By the time firefighters arrived, smoke was heavy in the production area of the 60,000 square-foot building and moderately heavy in the warehouse section of the building, the chief said.
Crews opened 14 skylight/ventilation areas on the roof to allow the smoke to escape, Pidgeon said, and used seven large fans from the department to help with ventilation.
The sprinkler-system controls weren’t working properly, Pidgeon said. City crews had to be called to turn off the water supply at the curb box, he said, and water accumulated on the plant floor.
The OFD called out “all-hands” for the response, Pidgeon said, and of 20 crew members, 13 were at the scene.
The department’s $1 million aerial ladder truck had been taken to fire calls since being purchased last year, but Monday was the first time it was used in a response, Pidgeon said.
With the new vehicle’s equipment, crews were able to go up and down the ladder, instead of being lifted up and down in a bucket as they would have been with the old ladder truck, he said.
Pidgeon said the compressor was severely damaged and the attached duct work was blown out. The company’s insurer was expected Tuesday, according to the chief, who said he didn’t expect the business to be open Tuesday.
The West Oneonta Fire Department was on standby at its station, Pidgeon said, and the OFD was back in service at about 4 p.m.
Pidgeon said Paul Neske, Oneonta town code enforcement officer, also responded to the fire scene.
OFD crews provide fire protection in most of the town of Oneonta under a contract with the Town of Oneonta Fire District.
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