No contaminants found in the air or water supply as SPS Technologies fire burns for fourth straight day, officials say

The four-alarm fire that has ravaged the SPS Technologies campus on Highland Avenue in Abington since Monday “remains active but … contained” as of Thursday evening, according to a statement from Abington Township.

Firefighters from 68 crews in the region have been called to tame the fire that broke out at 9:30 p.m. Monday when explosions boomed inside the aerospace parts manufacturer. The blaze briefly intensified Tuesday morning before calming on Wednesday as voluntary evacuation and shelter-in-place orders extending within a one-mile radius around SPS Technologies were lifted. No injuries have been reported.

» READ MORE: Crews thought they had the massive Montco industrial fire under control. Then came the billowing smoke and evacuation notices.

Fighting the fire has been an uphill battle, Jenkintown Fire Marshal Chris Platz said at a news conference. Parts of the campus will need to be demolished for crews to extinguish hot spots deep inside SPS Technologies’ 600,000-square-foot facility.

Demolition crews are on site surveying the space, said Tom McAneney, Abington’s director of fire and emergency management services. Platz said any teardowns could start within “the next day or two.”

The week’s strong winds and below-freezing temperatures have limited firefighters' response. SPS Technologies' sprinkler system was also “out of service” for maintenance at the start of the fire, an Abington official has said.

» READ MORE: Residents worry about chemical exposure, charred debris as the fire at SPS Technologies in Abington burns for its third straight day

“It’s not burning out of control anymore, so we have the luxury of slowing down,” McAneney said. “We’re not going to put anybody in any danger.“

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will continue to monitor air and water quality in the area.

“Based on the data collected, the monitoring equipment has not detected levels of contaminants of public concern” in the air or drinking water, Abington Township said in its statement.

The DEP previously found low levels of “chemicals of concern” downstream from SPS in Tookany Creek on Tuesday. The creek was retested, but results were not yet available. Findings from the DEP’s investigation can be found on a web page dedicated to the fire.

Air-quality monitors are being placed throughout Jenkintown, Abington, and Cheltenham, Jenkintown Police Chief Tom Scott said at Thursday’s news conference.

“They are there to address dust and particulate matters, as well as other hazardous chemicals common to these types of incidents,” Scott said.

» READ MORE: DEP tested air for six chemical compounds near SPS Technologies, Philly tested for two dozen

One monitor is at the railroad tracks separating the plant from houses to its southeast. The second is next to the Jenkintown Middle/High School complex, just under a mile from SPS' campus. Jenkintown schools will resume in-person instruction Friday, Superintendent Jill Takacs said in a message to families.

The DEP is testing the air for three sizes of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, chlorine, sulfuric acid, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen cyanide, according to its website. The City of Philadelphia has separately conducted its standard battery of air tests, finding that any traces of chemicals were “well below” the amount that a worker can be exposed to regularly during a standard workweek without seeing adverse health effects.

SPS Technologies disposed of 177 tons of chemicals in 2023, according to the most recent results available from the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory. That same year, SPS had to pay the EPA $109,000 for storing chemicals without a permit.

The facility is permitted to handle potentially toxic chemicals such as trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and 1-2 dichloroethane, which can increase risks for certain types of cancers.

» READ MORE: Abington company that caught fire had toxic ‘ignitable waste’ on site and had past EPA violations

SPS is investigating the cause of the fire, according to a statement Abington Police Chief Patrick Molloy read during Thursday’s conference. The company regained access to the factory Thursday to begin assessing damage and had placed its own air-quality monitors in the area.

Most of the facility’s chemicals were stored in buildings separate from where the fire started, Molloy said based on conversations with SPS. Chemicals from that portion of the facility “were not involved” in the fire, Molloy said. The company is moving chemicals to a location off-site, SPS said in its relayed statement.

Scott, the Jenkintown chief, said the department has begun to put together a preliminary list of homes affected by the fire. About 250 homes, most of them in Jenkintown, were included in the now-expired evacuation warning.

Officials urged those with charred debris in their yards to call 911 to have it removed.

“We are recommending that people do not touch any debris” without protective gear, Molloy said.

Businesses within the evacuation zone had reopened their doors by Wednesday morning, though some entrepreneurs were questioning how the fire would affect their livelihoods moving forward.

Ayanna Laney-Martin, owner of both a sandwich shop and a pest-control business on Jenkintown Road, had no choice but to close her businesses Tuesday as residents fled the area.

Though Laney-Martin lost a day of profits, she’s now calculating what could be larger implications for the sandwich shop, Village Delicatessen — many of her regulars were SPS Technologies employees.

“I’m concerned about what’s going to happen,” Laney-Martin said, mentioning that on Thursday she had served about a quarter as many customers as she saw on a regular day. “[SPS] had three shifts — it was an around-the-clock operation.”

Several doors down at Noble Cleaners, manager Un Choi completed tailoring jobs behind the counter of an empty store. Outside, a plastic barrier blocked vehicles from accessing the adjacent road.

“It’s been very slow,” said Choi, who was also forced to shutter her business Tuesday. “Yesterday, too.”

And in a store at the nearby Sunoco gas station, manager Waqar Malik was just happy to have a customer or two again browsing the aisles after the fire’s disruption.

“Police blocked all entrances to the area,” said Malik, recalling his thwarted attempt to open his store Tuesday morning. “They said, ‘If you want to go in, go in. But you ain’t going to have any business.’“

Editor’s note: A statement from SPS Technologies about where chemicals were being moved was misattributed to Abington Police Chief Patrick Molloy. The article has been corrected.