At approx 8:40am on Friday, November 15th, Maple Heights Fire Station 1 and Oakwood Fire Departments were dispatched for a reported working fire at Bencin Trucking located at 7277 Northfield Rd in Walton Hills.
Upon confirmation from Walton Hills PD that this was a working fire, the OIC from Maple Heights Eng 1 requested dispatch also send Maple Heights Station 2.
Upon obtaining further details, Maple Heights Fire Chief James Castelucci requested a 2nd Alarm which brought in Mutual Aid from Bedford, Bedford Heights, and Northfield Center Fire Departments.
Numerous explosions, caused by water making contact with Magnesium, were seen and heard for miles.
The fire was actually located in a business located in the Eastern of the building occupied by Bencin Trucking called Ohio Briquetting which recycles Magnesium.
When it was all said and done, Firefighters from 12 departments covering 2 counties (Cuyahoga and Summit) were called to assist with the containment of the blaze.
At 6pm, crews were still on the scene working on hot spots.
Crews were re-dispatched for an additional fire in the same structure around 0630.
