REINERTON - More than 40 firefighters worked in chilly temperatures Wednesday afternoon to douse a stubborn blaze which destroyed a machine shop, K&E Precision, in Porter Township.
"That business has been there since I've been a kid," Justin Koperna, 27, of 1744 E. Grand Ave., said as firefighters used a ladder truck from Lykens to shower the roof of the business at 1720 E. Grand Ave.
Koperna's wife, Stacy, was one of the people in the community who saw the smoke billowing up from the roof and called 911.
One of the five full-time employees at K&E, David Derr of Reinerton, a foreman and sales executive, said he had no idea how the fire started.
"There was nobody in the building at the time of the start of the fire. We were there earlier in the day and people left. We actually were not working today. There was no work being done in the building. We weren't going back until Monday. Now I guess we're not going back," Derr said Wednesday night.
But one of the co-owners, K&E President Karel A. Benscoter, had a theory.
"The only thing we're thinking is it was possibly the furnace, an oil burner," Benscoter said Wednesday night.
Muir Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 was in charge of the scene. The fire chief could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
According to the online Schuylkill Parcel Locator, the building is owned by PNL Penn Properties LP, 2100 Ross Ave., Dallas, Texas.
"Our records show it was established in 1986 and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of $500,000 to $1 million and employs a staff of approximately 5 to 9," according to Manta.com, a small business online community.
Karel Benscoter and her husband, Gary, both of Williamstown, are the owners of the business, and Gary is the vice-president.
K&E Precision, which is listed online as being in Tower City, made custom machine parts.
"We're not a production shop. We're a machine shop that makes custom parts, replacement parts for machines. Someone will issue us a print and we'll get a quote on it and we'll manufacture the part. We make parts out of anything, from plastic to aluminum to steel," Derr said.
One of the shop's major customers is Proctor & Gamble Manufacturing Company in Mehoopany Township, Wyoming County, Derr said.
K&E Precision only had one location, Derr said.
He wasn't sure of the owner and the president's future plans.
"At this point, I don't know. We're undecided at this point," Karel Benscoter said.
Derr said he was driving in Reinerton when he noticed smoke coming from the building just before 4 p.m.
"I live here in Reinerton. I was driving and seen the smoke and I thought, 'Holy heck, that looks like our machine shop,' " he said.
The fire was called in at 3:49 p.m., according to a supervisor at Schuylkill County Communications, Pottsville.
Just after 4 p.m., smoke from the blaze formed a tower which stretched more than six stories skyward, so high up motorists driving into Muir headed west on Route 209 could see the giant gray cloud rise over the treetops.
At 6:40 p.m., firefighters were still being dispatched to the "working structure fire," according to reports on the police scanner.
The building contained a lot of flammable material, Derr said.
"There's the ceiling tiles and plenty of file cabinets and all our paperwork. And there's oil in all the machines, in the grinders and all the milling machines. There's oil everywhere. That's probably where the darker smoke was coming from," Derr said.
Numerous fire companies were called to assist, according to the communications supervisor.
Droplets of water and mist from firefighting efforts froze on East Grand Avenue and nearby streets. The Porter Township road crew assisted firefighters by dumping anti-skid material on ice patches.
As of 9:30 p.m., firefighters were still on scene, according to a communications supervisor.