Fire does $200,000 damage at Kuhlman Corp. cement plant

2/2/2007

A fire today caused about $200,000 damage to the Kuhlman Corp. cement batch plant near the Maumee River in Toledo s old south end, authorities said.

The fire was reported about 11:30 a.m. when workers using a cutting torch created sparks that triggered some sort of grease fire at the plant at 444 Kuhlman Drive, Battalion Fire Chief Jerry Abair said.

Workers inside the facility fled; no injuries were reported. The plant was shut down for maintenance at the time of the fire, the chief said.

Because the facility has a large amount of electrical equipment using a lot of power, electricity was shut off to the building before crews doused the fire with water, Chief Abair said.

Another issue crews encountered was that the threads on one of the closest hydrants were damaged and a hose could not be attached to it, the chief said.

Authorities weren t sure if one hydrant would be enough to extinguish the blaze and considered drawing water from the river as a backup water source, but instead chose a hydrant several blocks away, the chief said.

The fire was under control in about an hour and precautionary second-alarm crews were not needed, Chief Abair said.

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