Raw video: Large Pennsylvania publishing company destroyed by fire.
Video above from John Smathers.
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A large fire Tuesday morning filled the air with thick smoke and a pungent odor of ink, and it continued into the early afternoon.
Sky 4 video showed thick smoke billowing from Creps United Publications, just off Philadelphia Street in White Township, Indiana County.
“There was black smoke pouring from every corner of the building. We did make an initial hit, but the ceiling temperatures were over 1,200 degrees,” said Ron Moreau, of the Indiana Fire Association.
The 75,000-square-foot facility manufactured retail advertising inserts and brochures for newspapers and commercial publications across the country.
“I was here within eight minutes of the initial fire call and smoke was already pouring out everywhere. And our chief (Mike Kelly) was here before me and he saw the black smoke already pouring out when he crested the hill approaching the plant,” Moreau said.
“Inside it was like a hot box with fire rolling through various parts of the building. … There was no ventilation,” he said.
Moreau said one employee reported that workers heard an explosion and then saw a fire near one printing press in the production end of the facility, which had offices and a storage area.
The plant is located west of the borough on Christy Park Drive, just off Philadelphia Street in White Township.
Indiana County emergency management coordinator Tom Stutzman said ink used at the plant isn’t flammable because it is soy-based, but the large volumes of paper stored there fueled the fire.
No workers were hurt, though at least two firefighters were said to be hurt, one from a hose and another from an unspecified medical condition.
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