Cleanup begins after massive fire at Lindy Paving facility in Beaver County
WPXI paving company fire
A massive fire Thursday morning that burned a maintenance building at a major regional paving company’s Beaver County location was fed by natural gas, Big Beaver Fire Chief Adam Crepp said.
The fire at the Lindy Paving equipment warehouse along Shenango Road in Big Beaver was reported at about 5 a.m. , according to a Beaver County 911 dispatcher.
“It was empty, luckily, at the time,” Crepp said. “It was their shop, where they stored and worked on equipment.”
Firefighters from 10 departments worked in temperatures that were near or below zero until after 11 a.m., Crepp said.
The conditions made it “very challenging,” he said.
“Obviously, everything freezes,” he said. “Everywhere we walked, it was like walking on a skating rink. It was all just solid ice.”
No one was injured while responding to the blaze, Crepp said.
Witnesses said the flames and plumes of heavy black smoke could be seen for several miles.
Hours after the fire started, the stench of the fire lingered in the air. Shenango Road was caked with ice from fire hoses spraying water that appeared to freeze on contact with the frigid air.
The cause of the fire is being investigated by the state fire marshal’s office.
“We would like to thank the emergency responders and firefighters for their efforts in bringing the fire under control in such extreme conditions,” Jessica D. McKinney, the company’s marketing director, said in a statement. “We will investigate to determine the cause and rebuild the facility.”
Lindy Paving operates six asphalt plants and is a division of the PJ Dick and Trumbull construction companies, according to firm’s website.
The company has more than 50 years of experience and has managed more than $12 billion in construction projects and is consistently ranked among the top 100 general contractors in the country by Engineering News-Record.
“Lindy is one of the elite paving companies in the region and performs a great deal of (PennDOT) work every year,” PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said of the company.
Tony LaRussa is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tony at 724-772-6368 or tlarussa@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TonyLaRussaTrib. Tom Davidson is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tom at 724-487-7208, tdavidson@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TribDavidson.
Tony LaRussa is a TribLive reporter. A Pittsburgh native, he covers crime and courts in the Alle-Kiski Valley. He can be reached at tlarussa@triblive.com.
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