Investigators To Release Details About Fire At National Plastics

Officials investigating Friday’s massive fire at National Plastics & Manufacturing Inc. are expected to meet on Wednesday, according to Palmer Township Fire Commissioner Delmar Grube.

Grube said state and local fire and police officials could release additional information, including a cause, at that time.

As of Tuesday, the business at 11 McFadden Road in the Palmer Industrial Park had reopened.

Initial reports about Friday’s fire said it appeared to have started in a  Dumpster. It took nearly eight hours, more than 25 units from all over the Lehigh Valley, some 400,000 gallons of water and several excavators before the fire was declared out.

Kevin Sunday, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said water samples taken at the site last week and Monday were not at a “concernable level.”

National Plastics is a recycling business that stores plastic and cardboard materials both inside and outside the building.

A township review of possible code violations revealed two infractions over the past five years -- both for objects and refuse around the building. The last notification, according to township Code Enforcement Officer Jim Raudenbush, was received in 2008.

“They complied with the letter,” said Raudenbush.

Raudenbush couldn’t elaborate on the severity of the complaints, but did say they were likely just “stuff blowing around.”