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Industrial fire blackens sky near TIA

It took several hours to contain a fire at the Westshore Glass Corp., in part because of concerns over toxic fumes from burning rubber and a collapsed roof.

By Kevin Graham
Published January 29, 2006

TAMPA - Large plumes of black smoke and toxic fumes fouled the air in an industrial area just north of Tampa International Airport on Sunday afternoon.

Dozens of passersby stopped to see whether a plan had crashed, but fire officials said the smoke came from a four-alarm fire at Westshore Glass Corp., at 5300 W Knox St. It took about 50 firefighters several hours to contain the blaze. No one was seriously injured.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley blamed the blackness of the smoke and difficulty in fighting the fire on butyl rubber, a synthetic the company used in manufacturing safety glass.

Other products that consist of applications of butyl rubber include stoppers for medicine bottles, bio-medical joint replacements, tank and pond liners and chewing gum. "It doesn't present any more of a threat than spilled gasoline," Yeakley said. "Our only concern is people who have existing respiratory problems. We recommend they stay inside."

Firefighters responded just before 1 p.m. to calls of black smoke rising from the rooftop at the building off Anderson Road. Yeakley said the fire began on the second floor of one of the buildings and spread to a second building. Firefighters worked to keep the flames from spreading to the other three buildings on the property.

Yeakley said a crew was scheduled to arrive for work Sunday evening, but the buildings were empty when the fire began.

The two buildings that were damanged housed Westshore Glass' administration and a work area where the safety glass was made. Yeakley said they were the oldest buildings on the property.

They were also the two buildings where an air condition technician installed new rooftop units on Friday. Yeakley said it's too soon to tell whether there's any connection with that and the cause of the fire. It may be sometime today before fire officials are able to determine a cause.

Westshore Glass owners also told Yeakley that they had recently finalized a deal to sell the property and relocate part of their operation to Port Sutton.

Jorge Abreu, a foreman at Westshore Glass, happened upon the fire after leaving a nearby church service. He saw the black clouds from several miles away and decided to investigate.

"Oh, my goodness!" he said as he stood and watched firefighters running toward the flames and disappering inside the smoke.

Ryan Harrington was one of the first people on the scene. He was working nearby when he noticed the smoke and called 911.

"I don't think they knew what they were in for when they got here," he said. "They only sent one fire truck."

Firefighters eventually had 18 pieces of apparatus at the scene.

"You could hear the glass shattering," Harrington said..

At one point, the roof collapsed on the building and firefighters had to fight the blaze from outside. Those who didn't have proper respiratory equipment also had to pull back.

"We drew a line in the sand and said, "Okay. The fire isn't going past here,"' Yeakley said.

Wind gusts of up to 20 mph caused the smoke to rise close to the flight path of airplanes at TIA. But airport officials said the black clouds of smoke did not affect their arrivals or departures.

- Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 29, 2006, 17:49:01]