Fire Probe Continues at National Plastics

The investigation into the cause of a fire at National Plastics & Manufacturing Co., Inc. continues today.

Investigators from the state fire marshall, and township authorities are expected to be on hand Saturday morning at the manufacturing plant at 11 McFadden Road in the Palmer Industrial Park. 

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Palmer Township Fire Commissioner Delmar Grube said the fire likely began in a dumpster filled with plastics. The fire then spread to the building.

Fire officials first received a call about a dumpster fire at 10:52 am Friday. The fire quickly spread causing a third-alarm to be sounded.

Grube estimated up to 25 fire units responded to the blaze.

The recycling business stores plastics and cardboard materials both inside and outside the building. When fire officials arrived, they discovered material on the outside of the building on fire.

“Somehow there was a fire in that material,” said Grube.

By 3 pm Friday, front-end loaders were removing debris from the lot outside the building as well as inside the building. Grube said radiant heat from the outside contributed to the fire inside which contains skids, palettes, crates, containers and plastics.

“It was a deep-seeded fire inside the building,” he said. “We just kept digging and digging and digging.”

Fans were brought and door opened in order to vent the remainder of the building.

A Lehigh Valley Airport crash rescue truck was also brought in to help douse the fire. The truck houses special foam that douses fuel and polymer-based materials.

A full count on the number of emergency units, manpower has yet to be determined, Grube said. Some 400,000 gallons of water was used by either hydrants outside the industrial park or hauled by pumper tanks.