EVENDALE – Firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze at GE Aviation following an explosion in a building that houses machinery that tests aviation parts.
No one was hurt in the two-alarm fire that was reported between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Monday at the plant along Interstate 75, officials said.
Evendale Fire Chief Rick Cruse said it probably will take awhile to figure out what caused the blast inside Building 300 at the north end of GE’s plant here. Two of the four walls were blown out of the building, which sits at the north end of GE’s property; no damage estimate was immediately available.
Three large hydraulic compressors are housed in the building, which is used for “strictly mechanical” purposes, Cruse said. Computers, not people, run all the components there, he said.
Firefighters were able to contain a leak of hydraulic fluid, Cruse said. Jet fuel, natural gas, water and electricity supplies were turned off in the area, Cruse said, adding that GE “is real conscientious about everything.”
GE spokesman Rick Kennedy said employees rarely occupy that area, and all buildings nearby are used to test aviation parts.
After the fire broke out, interstate was clogged alongside the plant because of rainy weather, rush-hour traffic and multiple fire trucks converging on the scene; some fire crews were advised to find an alternate route to reach the plant.
Evendale firefighters were able to extinguish the fire so rapidly, they didn’t need the extra help that poured in from neighboring departments, Cruse said. Firefighters from nine departments with 50 firefighters arrived to help but Evendale fire officials released most of those firefighters because they weren’t needed, Cruse said.
GE maintains its own fire department but Cruse was unsure whether GE firefighters were the first to fight the fire, Cruse said. GE’s fire alarm system functioned properly, he said.
By 5:15 p.m., all the fire “except along the roof line,” was out, firefighters said via the emergency radio system.
Around 5:35 p.m., firefighters said a GE structural engineer was summoned to examine the building to make sure the structure was not going to collapse.
By 6 p.m., fire operations appeared to be winding down. About a half-dozen fire trucks remained on the scene, but half of them were positioned away from the explosion site. Two firefighters were hoisted up on a ladder truck’s bucket to continue monitoring the scene.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration likely will be conducting its own probe to ensure that safety procedures were followed, Cruse said.
Enquirer employee Robin Buchanan and photographer Amanda Davidson contributed to this story.
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