Abington Township commissioner Matt Vahey provided an updated regarding last night’s fire at the SPS Technologies building in Jenkintown.
68 fire companies responded to the fire and all 60 employees in the building were safely evacuated, Vahey said. No first responders have been treated for injuries and a shelter-in-place order is in effect within a 1-mile radius of the factory.
“The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is monitoring the air and water runoff at the scene and have detected no threats to the public; however, the public is advised to stay indoors out of caution,” Vahey said. “Monitoring will continue in the coming days. The fire is still smoldering, and fire companies will remain on scene until it is fully extinguished.”
All Abington and Cheltenham school district schools and buildings/grounds are closed for today. Arcadia University is closed as well.
Cheltenham Township residents who live within one mile of the fire are urged to shelter in place. SEPTA rail and bus service in the area is not operating due to the incident.
From Abington commissioner Bill Bole’s update:
– Glenside Weldon was on the scene first and within minutes of the alarm
– No reported injuries right now, either to the crews fighting the fire or employees at SPS. There are 500+ employees at SPS and about 50 who were working last night. They self-evacuated.
– The one-mile shelter in place order remains in effect as of 7:45am on Tuesday. The purpose of this order is to limit the number of people exposed to potentially poor air quality. People will make personal choices about going to work, etc, but residents should avoid unnecessary outdoor activity right now.
– The Township was aware of the chemicals used at SPS, where they were, and the dangers if certain ones were to combine. In containing the fire, they were able to isolate most of the chemicals and keep them from fire. They are monitoring actively.
– While contained, the age of the structure and size of the campus has made this very difficult to contain. As of 7:45am, there is still water being placed on the structure to completely put out the fire.
– No one is speculating about the cause and an investigation will begin as soon as possible. Priority right now is putting out the fire and monitoring air/water quality.
– The source of our drinking water is north of our area. There is no known risk to our drinking water.
– The local townships are working with SEPTA to get the train lines running past SPS up and running as soon as possible but no news yet about when.
A big shout out to our Abington fire fighters (the most accomplished all-volunteer fire service in the country!) and all who came from the surrounding region to do an amazing job on this fire. Thank you, and we are so happy you are all safe!
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Photo: Commissioner Bill Bole