Explosion at Berks County plant under investigation

Fire officials were investigating an explosion on Thursday afternoon at a Berks County plant that deals with titanium material.

No one was injured, although employees were in the Timet plant in Caernarvon Township at the time of the incident, Jay Moore, shift supervisor at Chester County Emergency Services, said.

The agency dispatched the Twin Valley Fire Department around 2:30 p.m. after receiving multiple calls about the explosion.

Moore said there was no immediate head count available, but employees had successfully evacuated by the time first responders arrived.

The explosion was under control shortly before 3 p.m., said Moore, although the Twin Valley Fire Department remained at the scene more than an hour later to investigate.

Aerial footage from 6abc showed a hole through a section of the roof and wall of the plant.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, and calls to the Timet headquarters were not immediately returned. On its website, the company claims to supply one-fifth of the world’s titanium with locations in Asia, Europe, and the United States.

The facility has had incidents in the past, including a 2015 explosion that killed one employee and injured three others. A separate three-alarm fire in 2013 caused about $3.5 million in damages at the plant.