Industrial fire shrouds Tampa sky
About 50 firefighters spend more than three hours containing the blaze at Westshore Glass.
By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published January 30, 2006
TAMPA - Large plumes of black smoke and fumes fouled the air in an industrial area just north of Tampa International Airport on Sunday afternoon.
Dozens of passers-by stopped to see whether a plane had crashed, but the smoke came from a four-alarm fire at Westshore Glass Corp., 5300 W Knox St. It took about 50 firefighters more than three hours to contain the blaze. No one was seriously injured.
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said the blackness of the smoke and difficulty in fighting the fire were because of butyl rubber, a synthetic the company uses in manufacturing safety glass.
Other products that consist of applications of butyl rubber include stoppers for medicine bottles, biomedical 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."
Firefighters responded just before 1 p.m. to reports of black smoke rising from the rooftop of the building off Anderson Road. Yeakley said the fire began on the second floor of one building and spread to a second. Firefighters worked to keep the flames from spreading to the other three buildings on the property.
Yeakley said a Westshore Glass crew was scheduled to arrive for work Sunday evening, but the buildings were unoccupied when the fire began.
The two buildings that were damaged 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 conditioning technician installed new rooftop units Friday. Yeakley said it's too soon to tell whether there was any connection between that and the cause of the fire. It may be sometime today before a cause is determined, officials said.
Westshore Glass owners told Yeakley that they had recently finalized a deal to sell the property and relocate part of the 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 disappearing into the smoke.
Ryan Harrington 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, 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 as much as 20 mph pushed the smoke close to the flight path of airplanes at TIA. But airport officials said the black clouds did not affect flights.
-- Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com