Crews Salvage Family-Owned Steel Fabrication Company In Shaler Township
SHALER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) -- A close call in Shaler today.
Firefighters battled a two-alarm fire inside of a family-owned steel fabrication company, VB Fabricators.
Crews were able to quickly knock down the flames and minimize damage to the building.
"I'm like what's going on? And then it was like bam, bam, bam and the second alarm went off and they were quick on the scene," said witness Bob Kwasniewski.
Firefighters rushed to the scene in the 1400 block of Glenn Avenue in Shaler. A two-alarm electrical fire broke out there early this morning.
Some machinery caught fire inside this building blowing out a window and causing even more damage inside.
The owner, Russel Baldt, says this fire left a lot of electrical damage and burned up multiple machines.
"Maybe a welder was left on or something was plugged in that shouldn't have been plugged in," Baldt said.
Crews were on the scene for roughly two hours. They kept the flames from spreading but say poor ventilation caused problems suppressing these thick smoke clouds. Firefighters say this could have been far worse because of the chemicals used to fuel the heavy machinery inside. Luckily, no one was hurt, no workers were there and the owner says he will bounce back.
"Good news is, we can stay open, keep going. Tough times right now so we will do what we can," Baldt said.
The owner and employees here spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the mess from this fire. The Fire Marshall is investigating.
