Belden Brick building, workers fine, machine heavily damaged in electric fire
SUGARCREEK – No one was hurt, but a large piece of equipment sustained hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in an electrical fire at the Belden Brick Plant 2 in Sugarcreek early Thursday morning.
Sugarcreek Fire Chief John Meek was first on the scene. He says he encountered a screener used early on in the brick-making process fully engulfed in flames due to an electrical short.
Meek says burning rubber created a thick cloud of black smoke just inside the doors of the plant. Employees had already evacuated when firefighters arrived, but the machine took a big hit. Meeks says the damage is $250,000 to $500,000.
Meek says the building is fine, but company officials were still figuring out how to resume production earlier Thursday.
Nine departments responded to the call. They were there for two hours, mainly working to get the smoke out of the building.