BALTIMORE (AP) -- A raging fire, fueled by foam materials, destroyed a manufacturing building in the city's Brooklyn area, with firefighters battling for hours overnight before bringing it under control early Tuesday.
The fire is the second in three months at a Life-Like Products warehouse in the Baltimore area. A fire Jan. 14 at the company's warehouse in West Baltimore went to five alarms. No one was injured in that blaze.
The latest fire at the company's facility on Chesapeake Avenue was reported about 10:30 p.m. and quickly went to four alarms as flames and thick black smoke rose from the large corrugated metal building.
A fire captain was injured when a cinder block fell on him, fire officials said. He was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Workers in the building fled to safety.
The fire was brought under control just before 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Nancy Leone, 54, told The (Baltimore) Sun she was in the ''screening room'' packaging foam crates made in the building when Styrofoam insulation plugging a drafty spot nearby ''started popping.''
''Next think I know, (a co-worker) came in and yelled, 'Everyone out,''' she said.
Leone said fire sprinklers in the building came on as she and about 25 others on the 3:30-to-11:45 night shift fled. ''I just kept running.''
Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said the fact that there were people in the building when the fire broke out could help investigators determine the origin of the blaze.
Life-Like Products got its start 50 years ago as a manufacturer of foam tunnels and grass mats for model railroad hobbyists, according to its corporate web site. The company manufactures foam coolers and custom molding products with factories in Baltimore; Chicago; Los Angeles; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Waxahachie, Texas; and Rome, Georgia.
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Information from: The Sun
