Roof heating-unit blaze damages Teledyne site

10/1/2003

A fire in a heating unit on the roof of Teledyne Continental Motors, 1330 West Laskey Rd. in West Toledo, yesterday caused an estimated $2,000 damage to the local Navy contractor, authorities said.

A malfunction in the heating unit created excessive heat, which ignited the fire about 6:50 p.m. when no personnel were inside the enormous cement-block manufacturing structure. The sprinkling system was automatically activated, triggering an alarm about 6:53 p.m., Battalion Chief Frank Keating said.

Two minutes later, fire crews arrived, saw flames on the roof, and turned the unit off. Denied air supply, the fire extinguished itself within minutes before it could spread beyond the unit to the wooden-truss roof, Chief Keating said.

The damage estimate includes the damage to the heating unit and water damage to part of the structure, the chief said.