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Nov. 27--Dozens of firefighters from Berks and Schuylkill counties spend most of the night Saturday battling a three-alarm blaze at Cressona Textile Waste Inc. in Cressona, according to Schuylkill County 9-1-1 dispatchers.
There were no reports of any injuries at the fire, which started about 6:30 p.m. at the large plant at 98 Front St.
Firefighters had the bulk of the fire under control after several hours. A tanker truck task force shuttled water to the scene and Berks firefighters were summoned to provide additional manpower.
Home heating oil was stored in tanks at the site and at least one of them sprung a leak, dispatchers said.
Firefighters were trying to contain the hazardous spill and keep it from getting into nearby waterways four hours after the fire started, dispatchers said.
State police from Schuylkill Haven arrested an onlooker who was intoxicated and refused to leave when police ordered him to move.
Jason M. Huseman, 26, Cressona, was charged by state police with criminal trespass and public drunkenness. He remains free awaiting a summons to appear in court in Orwigsburg, troopers said.
Police said Huseman was one of several onlookers as firefighters battled the blaze. Troopers ordered them, for safety reasons, to leave the area, which is owned by Cressona Textile Inc. and Blue Mountain, Reading and Northern Railroad.
All of the onlookers left except Huseman, who was arrested after refusing several times to leave. Police said he continued to be unruly after he was arrested but he was eventually released.
It was unclear what sparked the fire. No damage estimate was available.
Dispatchers did not know if anyone was working in the building when the fire started.
Emergency workers said the structure has been damaged by one or two other fires in recent years.
A warehouse owned by Cressona Textile Waste on Mengle street was destroyed by a fire in April 2010, according to news reports at that time.
Another fire in March 2006 destroyed the textile warehouse on Front Street that burned down again Saturday.
The owner of the properties at the time of both earlier fires, Leland Winston, said in 2006 that damage to the Front Street property would be in the millions of dollars.
Contact Jason A. Kahl: 610-371-5024 or [email protected].
