Story by Chris Lawrence
South Charleston Fire Department investigators said it may be hard to know what caused an electrical fire earlier this week in one of the area’s largest manufacturing facilities.
The South Charleston and Dunbar Fire Departments responded to the Gestamp Plant on MacCorkle Avenue late Tuesday night when fire broke out in an electrical box in the basement of the sprawling building.
“It burned a little bit of the debris around it. Some of the workers used extinguishers to keep it in check. We went in and made sure the fire was totally out, checked for extensions, and ventilated the building because it was totally full of smoke,” said Virgil White the South Charleston Fire Chief.
The blaze was contained to the basement area and White said the damage was largely to the electrical unit.
“Wasn’t a whole lot of damage. They’ll probably have to replace the box and do some electrical work, but it shouldn’t slow down production,” he said.
White said half the team went to the basement to get a handle on the fire while the rest of his crews checked out the rest of the building to get workers out safely. All managed to escape and there were no injuries.
According to White, a cause may be hard to know because of the nature of the fire.
“We’re not really for sure what started it other than a problem in the box. Sometimes when it comes to an electrical fire it’s hard to determine the cause,” he said.