300 firefighters battle blaze at former china factory in Sebring

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

SEBRING

The fire chief is calling a major blaze at the former Royal China factory suspicious and says his department is investigating it.

The 10 p.m. Saturday fire erupted in the mostly vacant complex at South 15th Street and Georgia Avenue, which had 13 acres under roof, said Fire Chief Jim Cannell.

No utilities were in service at the complex, except in a tiny section occupied by a plastic toy maker, which firefighters succeeded in saving, he said.

“You could see it from blocks away,” Cannell said of the fire, which illuminated the night sky and drew 250 to 300 firefighters to the scene from 10 jurisdictions.

The building was filled with wooden pallets and large boxes of scrap plastic, which created a large fire load, he said.

“Thank God, it was going straight up,” Cannell said of the black smoke from the burning plastic that rose in the wind-free atmosphere.

Street department backhoes pulled plastic out of the burning building to enable firefighters to douse it with water and knocked down walls so they wouldn’t fall on firefighters.

There were no injuries.

Besides police and the American Red Cross, firefighters were on the scene from the Sebring, Alliance, Damascus, Beloit, North Georgetown, Homeworth, Lexington, Washington Township, Washingtonville and Greenford fire departments.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.