FFs from 16 Agencies Tackle Blaze at PA Biofuel Company

It took 16 different agencies about four hours to extinguish an early morning fire at a Plainfield Township biofuels company where a hazardous materials team is now working on clean-up, according to Plainfield Township Fire Chief Alex Cortezzo.

Crews were called to the fire at Smarter Fuels Inc., in the 500 block of Male Road, at 1:45 a.m. Monday for a fully involved industrial fire, Cortezzo said. The nature of the company, which refines used cooking oil into fuel to power vehicles and heat buildings, made for a challenging response, the fire chief said.

“You can think of it as a giant grease fire,” said Cortezzo. “It definitely presented it’s own unique circumstances.”

Since water cannot be used to douse a fire fueled by oil, crews with foam trucks were summoned to assist in the effort. The fire was deemed under control by 3:14 a.m. and declared out at 5:06 a.m.

But the work will have just started for hazardous material remediation crews, which arrived to begin cleaning and mitigating any environmental impact Monday morning, Cortezzo said. The state Department of Environmental Protection also arrived at the Plainfield Township scene earlier today, he said.

No firefighters or members of the public were injured in the blaze, which Cortezzo said destroyed the building and its contents.

As is customary for any large-scale fire, the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal is investigating the fire and how it started.

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