Industrial Fire at Essroc Cement Company
 
By Hecktown Firefighters
April 12, 2015
 

The HVFCo. was alerted at 16:14 hours to assist Station 50 (Vigilance Hose of Nazareth) at an industrial fire at the Essroc Cement Company. 5051 (Chief Keenhold) located the first fire off of Prospect Street in the Borough of Nazareth in the beltway that carries stone to Essroc Plant 1 on route 248. 5051 advised 5351 (Chief Seip) to proceed to a second fire location off of route 248 between plants 2 and 3. 5351 located a working fire in a tunnel under an internal roadway at the cement plant. 5351 requested 5312 and 5331 to his scene as well as 3 additional tankers and manpower. 5312 responded with staffing of 5 along with 5331 and 5311. Fire 27 (Palmer Municipal) provided manpower along with tankers from Fire 52 (Bushkill Twp.), Fire 36 (Plainfield Twp.), and Fire 48 (Klecknersville Rangers). Units worked for approximately 45 minutes using 5312's class B foam system to suppress the fire in the tunnel. Extensive overhaul was required to ensure complete extinquishment. Crews were able to access the beltway via a catwalk to the west of the fire and by cutting away the beltway housing to the east of the tunnel. No injuries were sustained by fire or plant personnel during the incident.

Thank you to Dan Clerico of Northeast Bravest for contributing the pictures of this incident. Visit www.northeastbravest.com for additional pictures from the scene.

 
Units: Engine 5311, Engine/Rescue 5312, Tender 5331, Utility 5343