The Greater Glenside Civic Association, in coordination with Abington Township commissioners, has launched a survey regarding the aftermath of the SPS Technologies fire in Jenkintown.

The survey asks for residents’ top concerns and questions going forward.

According to their announcement, the Association is planning to host a Community Conversation in the coming weeks “to facilitate a productive and respectful discussion that reflects the highest priorities of our community.”

From the announcement:

In response to the SPS Technology fire, the Greater Glenside Civic Association and our Township Commissioners are planning to host a Community Conversation in the coming weeks to discuss its impact along with the concerns and ideas of our neighbors as we move forward. Our goal is to facilitate a productive and respectful discussion that reflects the highest priorities of our community.

To ensure we address the topics most important to all of us, we hope you’ll take a moment to complete this survey by March 7 about what’s on your mind. Your input will help shape the discussion, and we will also share the anonymized results with all who participate.

We are working with our local Abington Township Commissioners to identify the best time for the event. Ideally, we would have a demolition plan from SPS in advance, but the company hasn’t provided that just yet. If it’s not forthcoming in the next couple of weeks, then we will forge ahead without the plan. Once we have set the date, time, and place of our meeting, we will be in touch again.

The survey is here. Questions can be sent to info@glensidecivic.org.

In related news, The Philadelphia Inquirer published a lengthy article detailing what went on inside the SPS building over the past several decades.

Former employees told The Inquirer that the facility “had become a shell of itself after two corporate acquisitions and several rounds of workforce reductions.”

Bob Heffner, a former employee and then-member of SPS’ now-disbanded volunteer fire crew, said he used to put out “five to six” small fires a month between 1985 and 1995. He retired in 2018 after 44 years with the company.

“It’s dirty, it’s noisy. The working conditions weren’t great, but it was a good place for me to land,” he said.

“It paid a good wage for factory work. You could be a high school graduate and buy a house, … have a family, and take vacations,” said Ed Weinberger, 61, who worked at SPS as a machine operator from 1986 until 2018.

Heffner and Weinberger told The Inquirer that the factory “felt like a large family” with golf tournaments, bowling nights, and two company softball leagues.

“They had one of the best fast-pitch softball teams in the area,” said Michael Appel, 54, of Glenside. “That whole area [around SPS] — people were always down there for picnics or pick-up baseball games. It had this rustic, romantic feel to it. It gave Glenside and Jenkintown a sense of identity.”

Heffner said that SPS’ standards fell after it was acquired by Precision Castparts. The volunteer fire crew was disbanded along with the company picnics and sports leagues. SPS had 900 workers before Precision Castparts, and 471 at the time of the fire, The Inquirer said.

SPS did not respond to questions regarding workforce reductions or working conditions. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor has no record of official notices announcing layoffs from SPS Technologies, The Inquirer said.

Lastly, SPS Technologies issued an SPS Process Overview on Wednesday “to provide information on what we make and how we make it, including the chemicals used in the process,” the company said in a statement. “As reported previously, the main chemical storage area was not impacted by the fire.”

The rest of the update is below:

• Earlier this week, the fire department addressed some building materials that were smoldering.  As a result of the smoke from the smoldering material, three of our on-site air monitors picked up elevated levels of PM 2.5, which can be described as small particulate matter.  The elevated levels were limited to the evening and overnight hours on 2/24/2025.  None of the nearby community monitoring locations showed elevated levels.
• SPS continues to ramp up cleaning of properties in the area. The crews, which now consist of approximately 90 individuals, are focused on residential properties today. SPS continues to test representative samples of debris.  Debris sampled to date has been confirmed to be non-asbestos containing materials. Please contact us at ContactSPS@pccairframe.com if you would like to request debris clean-up service for your property. 
• Air and water monitoring continues.  SPS has 15 air monitors now in place. Six monitors circle the plant itself; the remainder are placed in the surrounding communities.
• For your safety, please remain outside the fenced area surrounding the property. Only authorized people should try to access the property/building. Thank you.

The overview is below:

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