Three school districts cancelled classes for Wednesday as voluntary evacuations are in place due to a fire in an Abington Township factory that started Monday night. NBC10’s Aaron Baskerville, Shaira Arias and meteorologist Brittney Shipp have the very latest.
What to Know
- Fire crews returned to the site of a massive fire in Montgomery County on Tuesday morning after sources told NBC10 that another explosion was heard there at about 10:20 a.m.
- A massive fire broke out after an initial explosion at SPS Technologies in Abington Township, Pennsylvania, on Monday night.
- About 60 workers were at the site at the time the fire broke out. Officials said they are all accounted for and no injuries were reported.
- A shelter in place order was in effect for those located within a 1-mile radius of the incident and hazmat crews were monitoring air quality on Tuesday morning.
- The fire caused SEPTA to suspend their Lansdale/Doylestown, West Trenton and Warminster regional rail lines and buses in the area around the incident.
- Tuesday afternoon, nearby residents and businesses were advised to evacuate and travel to a shelter at Cheltenham High School on 500 Rices Mill Road in Wyncote, Pennsylvania.
UPDATE: This article is no longer being updated. Get the latest updates on the fire here.
Residents evacuated as crews continue to battle a massive fire at the SPS Technologies building in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.
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Tuesday afternoon, the Abington Township Emergency Operations Center and Jenkintown Emergency Management advised all residents and businesses in the following areas to evacuate within the hour:
- Stewart Avenue
- Runnymede Avenue
- Florence Avenue between Runnymede Avenue and West Avenue
- Highland Avenue between Hillside Ave and West Avenue
- Rodman Avenue between Walnut Street and Runnymede Avenue
- Hillside Avenue between Florence Avenue and Walnut Street
- Myrtle Avenue between Runnymede Avenue and Rodman Avenue
An evacuation shelter was created in the auditorium of Cheltenham High School on 500 Rices Mill Road in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. Residents were asked to self-evacuate by driving to the high school or a location outside of the one-mile radius of the SPS Technologies site on 301 Highland Avenue.
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Transportation was provided to residents who can't self-evacuate. Please call 610-635-4300 if you need transportation to the evacuation center. Leashed or crated pets are also allowed at the shelter.
Emergency responders also went door to door to help residents in the impacted area.
Officials recommended that evacuees bring at least two days worth of any prescription medications or necessary medical devices and identification. They're also encouraged to bring a change of clothes and any leashes, medications and food for pets.
During a 4 p.m. press conference, Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy said most of the impacted area was evacuated.
"Many chose to self-evacuate. Some took up our offer to go to Cheltenham. At this point that’s been a successful operation," he said.
What we know about the fire
The Weldon Fire Company initially responded to the fire at the SPS Technologies warehouse on 301 Highland Avenue on Monday at 9:43 p.m. When crews arrived they observed flames breaching through the roof of the building as well as multiple explosions inside the facility.
Officials said at least 60 employees were inside the building at the time. They were all evacuated and accounted for. No injuries were reported.
A total of 68 fire companies responded to the four-alarm fire and battled the flames throughout the night into Tuesday morning.
Around 10 a.m. Tuesday, officials announced the fire was contained but remained active and was still smoldering.
“We are still fighting this fire. It’s still actively burning,” Abington Township Emergency Management Coordinator Thomas McAneney said during a Tuesday morning press conference.
Sources told NBC10 there was another explosion inside the building around 10:20 a.m. Tuesday and all of the crews returned to the facility where they continue to work to bring the fire under control.
At a Tuesday afternoon press conference, officials explained that the factory did have a sprinkler system, but it was out of service because of a maintenance issue.
The company is being credited with following the right precautions by having a fire watch in place and keeping a fire brigade in the building, officials explained.
In Facebook posts, Abington Township Police and Abington Township’s Ward 6 Commissioner Jeffrey Browne warned residents to avoid the area.
SEPTA services impacted, schools closed
SEPTA suspended their Lansdale/Doylestown, West Trenton and Warminster regional rail lines due to the fire burning near the Glenside Station. Abington officials said that SEPTA bus service in the area was also not operating on Tuesday morning.
On Wednesday morning, SEPTA officials said service resumed on the Warminster and Doylestown regional rail lines, but trains would not be stopping at Glenside or Jenkintown-Wyncote stations.
Rte Doylestown,Warminster: Service has resumed operations; however, trains will not service Glenside Station and Jenkintown-Wyncote Station.
— SEPTA (@SEPTA) February 19, 2025
All schools in the Abington, Cheltenham and Jenkintown school districts were closed while private and parochial schools in the area were closed as well due to the fire.
Jenkintown, Cheltenham and Abington schools will also remain closed on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
Manor College's campus in Abington was closed on Tuesday as well and students at the school were told to shelter in place until further notice.
Residents asked to shelter in place
A shelter in place was put in effect in the area Monday night due to smoke from the fire filtering near the warehouse, officials said.
After recommending the evacuation Tuesday afternoon, officials advised all residents and businesses outside of the evacuation zone but within one mile of the SPS Technologies building to continue to shelter in place, remain indoors and avoid the area of the fire.
While officials initially said there were concerns over fire fighting materials reacting with chemicals onsite to create arsenic, they have not found any evidence of that occurring.
Officials also said that any water runoff from fire fighting efforts has been kept onsite. There was no threat that waste water would enter the community's creeks or water supplies, officials said. They also said drinking water has not been impacted.
Officials have not yet determined the cause of the fire. Abington Township police and the township's Fire Marshal's Office are all investigating.
SPS Technologies is a supplier for aerospace fasteners and fittings and was founded in Jenkintown in 1903 as the Standard Pressed Steel Company.
Air quality and health concerns
Hazmat crews and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are monitoring the air quality in the area. As of Tuesday afternoon, no air quality issues were reported.
Dr. Jamie Garfield, a pulmonologist at the Temple Lung Center, told NBC10 that based on video of the fire, she’s concerned about smoke and particulate water coming off the manufacturing plant.
“I don’t think we’ll know for awhile what the extent of this damage and injury is but you can have any number of symptoms, so, you know, respiratory symptoms, congestion, watery eyes, runny nose, cough, shortness of breath,” she said. “Then also, cardiovascular risks increase. So increased risk of heart attack and stroke.”
She said that while it’s unclear what chemicals may have burned, a building on fire will still result in harmful gases spreading in the air.
“In a more general level, when a building burns down, we have heavy metals that are released into the air," she said. "We sometimes have asbestos fibers which are insulating fibers. Many times those are released into the air. And then just the combustion, the active combustion, causes gases. Carbon dioxide. Sulfur dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide. Carbon monoxide, even. So all of these are put up into the air, aerosolized, and then anyone who’s walking by, can breathe these in.”
For anyone living nearby the fire who needs to leave the house, Dr. Garfield recommended putting on a well-fitted KN95 mask.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the city's Health Department dispatched inspectors to the Fox Chase neighborhood to collect air samples and assess the air quality and the potential for any threat caused by the Abington Township fire.
Officials said Tuesday afternoon they haven't identified any specific hazardous substances in the Philadelphia area. The Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, Philadelphia Fire Department and the Philadelphia Water Department are all investigating.
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