Firefighters Respond to Explosion at Fiberboard Plant in Shippenville

Scott Shindledecker

Scott Shindledecker

Published March 26, 2018 4:36 pm
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SHIPPENVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — Firefighters responded to an explosion early Monday morning at the fiberboard plant in Shippenville.

Shippenville-Elk Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched around 1:49 a.m. for a report of an explosion at Clarion Boards, Inc. on Fiberboard Road, just off U.S. Route 322 in Shippenville.

“It was an explosion in the dyer system. The equipment actually has explosion vents on them so that they will be the first things to go and this is what happened last night,” said Shippenville-Elk Fire Chief Jeremy Hallberg. “It’s a safety design so that it will blow out in one designated spot instead of wherever it wants.”

Hallberg said his department was on scene for a few hours helping the plant’s internal fire crew extinguish the fire.

“It has really helped after (Clarion Boards) started up their own fire brigade over there,” said Hallberg. “They have their own team with gear and training that we can utilize which helps greatly in not having to call out a lot of departments like we had to before.”

Hallberg said he didn’t believe the explosion caused a significant amount of damage at the plant.

“Usually after that type of fire, there isn’t a whole lot of damage,” said Hallberg. “It burns mostly the excess fiber and dust. With the explosion vents going off there is some damage there (and some equipment) would need to be replaced.”

Hallberg said the scene was cleared around 5:00 a.m.

Shippenville Ambulance also assisted at the scene.

No injuries were reported.

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