Warehouse fire prompts warning

Associated Press

MIDDLETOWN

A fire broke out and burned for hours early Tuesday outside Cincinnati at a warehouse containing chemicals, leading authorities to warn about 2,000 residents to stay in their homes because of fumes.

No injuries were reported in the fire in Madison Township, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati. The cause of the blaze at the Marflex Building Solutions warehouse, which broke out around 1:30 a.m., hadn’t been determined, said Shane Cartmill, a spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

By midday, authorities determined that airborne chemicals — including xylene, the primary material in gasoline — did not pose a threat. They later lifted the warning for residents after several air-quality tests showed no dangerous levels of chemicals, authorities said.

A Butler County Emergency Management Agency official said several toxic chemicals were in the warehouse. The Marflex website says the company makes foundation waterproofing and concrete building products.

There usually are are about 50 to 100 employees at the company, but no one was there when the fire started, company spokesman Rob Hoffman told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

He said there was a large stock of inventory, including egress window wells and vents for crawl spaces.

“This is absolutely devastating,” he said.

Hoffman estimated that damage to the building alone would be at least in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, The Enquirer said.

Firefighters began fighting the blaze inside but left after realizing that toxic chemicals were inside, Madison Township Fire Chief Kent Hall said.

They also worried that adding water could cause ground contamination and decided to monitor the fire, which could burn for two days or more, Hall said.

Neighbor Tony Carpenter said he got his children off to the school bus but wishes he had received more information from fire officials.

He learned of the warning to stay indoors after reading it on the Internet, he told The Enquirer.

“I am not one to blow things out of proportion, but I would like to know what is going on,” he said.