Abington Township officials announced this morning that the fire at SPS Technologies “remains active but is contained and investigations are ongoing.”

From their notice:

Emergency personnel  have worked through the night and will continue to work to ensure public safety. The shelter-in-place and evacuation recommendation remain lifted at this time. Today, fire operations will shift to address the most immediate fire hot spots within the building. In order for fire suppression equipment to reach these locations, some demolition of the building will take place. Demolition will be carefully coordinated and overseen by all agencies, engineers, and responders on site. This is a necessary step to extinguishing the fire.

We cannot emphasize enough that there is absolutely no trespassing on the site and will be strictly enforced. All trespassers  create a safety risk for all the emergency responders and public. Sections of the SPS Technologies building are structurally compromised and it is an active emergency scene as operations continue to unfold.

A portion of the building will be demolished once the fire is contained, officials said.

The Abington Township Police Department announced that the following roads are closed until further notice due to the SPS Technologies fire:

• Highland Avenue is closed between Glenside Avenue and Wharton Road
• Kenmore Avenue is closed between Stewart Road and Highland Avenue
• Mount Carmel Avenue is closed at Highland Avenue
• The shopping center is open to local traffic only using Wharton Road

“Please be aware that the 2000 block of Kenmore Avenue is accessible to residents only,” the department said. “We will notify residents if there are any changes to this situation.”

A full list of road closures and detours is available at www.abingtonpa.gov/SPSupdates.

Jenkintown schools were virtual today but expect to reopen on Friday, according to a memo distributed by superintendent Dr. Jill Takacs.

An excerpt:

I want to share our plans for school operations during the next two days, Thursday and Friday, February 20th and 21st.

Today, safety officials including the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with local fire and police departments, lifted the evacuation and shelter in place orders for the area around the SPS Technologies fire. We are in close communication with local officials, including Jenkintown Police Chief Thomas Scott, who assured us that air quality testing by monitoring agencies shows a return to normal levels, similar to the readings that we would have received prior to the fire.

Out of an abundance of caution, the Jenkintown School District will remain in virtual instruction for one additional day – Thursday, February 20th. We will have a bus available for our Eastern Center for Arts and Technology students that will leave the back circle at 11:30 AM. We want all of our Eastern students to attend their courses at Eastern tomorrow. 

Tomorrow our custodial and maintenance team will thoroughly clean our buildings and install new air filters in our air purifiers. They will also check our grounds for debris. Additionally, we will continue to monitor air quality over the next several days. 

Safety officials (environmental, police, and fire) have cleared Jenkintown for an in-person return to school; therefore, we will resume in-person instruction on Friday, February 21st. We will also offer a virtual option to students on Friday, as some families evacuated long distances to stay with relatives and are not able to quickly return to the district.

In related news, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has dedicated a page with resources concerning the fire, including response activities, drinking water quality, and air quality.

Montgomery County residents with an environmental health concern are encouraged to contact the Montgomery County Office of Public Health.

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