TOLEDO, Ohio — Two people died in a Tuesday morning explosion at an industrial textile reconditioning and recycling facility here.
According to a press release from the City of Toledo, at approximately 4:50 a.m., Toledo Fire & Rescue Department (TFRD) crews were dispatched to a reported structure fire at Brent Industries, roughly 5 miles west-southwest of downtown.
Based on information received while crews were responding, the incident was upgraded to a second-alarm response prior to the arrival of the first TFRD units, bringing additional personnel and apparatus to the scene.
“We worked with the building management to identify anybody who was missing or couldn’t be accounted for,” Toledo Fire and Rescue Chief Allison Armstrong shared during a media briefing. “That was a very lengthy process, and we discovered that we were missing two employees, one adult male, one adult female.
“Several hours later, we discovered the adult female. Shortly thereafter, we found the adult male in the building, and both unfortunately had succumbed to their injuries.”
Initial reports indicated that approximately 12 individuals were inside the facility at the time of the fire, according to the press release. Employees who were able to evacuate the facility were evaluated and treated for injuries on scene.
Brent Industries specializes in reconditioning industrial textiles and related materials for reuse, according to its website. Its services include reconditioning work gloves, wiping materials, safety wear, absorbents and filter media, including items containing hazardous and non-hazardous materials. Using a mineral spirits-based drycleaning process, the company also reclaims and refines cleaning solvents and other constituents for reuse while operating in compliance with EPA guidelines.
The City of Toledo release states that Tuesday’s incident has also been classified as a building collapse. TFRD Hazardous Materials and Technical Rescue crews, along with Toledo Environmental Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are on scene and actively involved in the response.
Multiple tanks containing mineral spirits were at the facility, creating an additional hazard for responding crews. TFRD personnel are currently monitoring the tanks and conditions surrounding them as operations continue.
EPA representative Jon Gulch says, “When we arrived shortly after, the fire of the tanks was pretty much extinguished. At that point, we were left with just the white smoke, and we’ve done air monitoring around and in the plume, and also working with Toledo Environmental Services and Ohio EPA to determine if there’s any runoff from the tanks off to the backside of the property into a ditch that would lead to Swan Creek.
“We have not seen anything in that ditch. And most of the air monitoring that came back early on was at non-detect, so not detecting any levels of hazardous constituents.”
The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
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