Explosions and fire tear through Ohio industrial building, killing 2 workers

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Explosions rocked an Ohio industrial recycling business early Tuesday, killing two workers and sparking a large fire, officials said.

Flames and dark smoke poured from Brent Industries in Toledo as fire engines surrounded the building, TV news video showed.

Crews later discovered the bodies of two employees, a man and a woman, inside the smoldering building, said Toledo Fire Chief Allison Armstrong. Two or three other employees had minor injuries, she said.

Two explosions occurred shortly before 5 a.m., during a shift change, Armstrong said. Crews had to deal with hazardous materials, runoff and the threat of more explosions while first searching for victims and accounting for the other employees, she said.

Environmental officials said monitors showed that there was no hazardous threat in the air.

Demetrius Langston said he felt the explosion half a mile (0.8 kilometers) away. He ran outside with his phone and captured video of a huge plume of smoke rising into the dark sky.

“The shock waves came down the block,” he said. “Then we all heard it again. Boom! You could feel it.”

Armstrong said the fire was still burning Tuesday afternoon. She also said there were no preliminary indications of what caused the explosions.

Aerial images showed that nearly all of the building’s roof was gone and that the blast blew out its walls.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it was investigating. The agency has six months to conduct its investigation and it won’t release any more information until that’s completed, officials said.

Authorities encouraged people near the site who could see or smell smoke to keep windows and doors closed and avoid the area.

Phone and email messages were left for Brent Industries.

The company, based in Brent, Alabama, offers textile reconditioning and industrial recycling services aimed at reducing waste and saving money, according to its website. It was founded in Alabama in 1977 and has operations in Brent and Toledo.

The company’s Alabama location also had an explosion and fire in 2015 that killed one person.

After that deadly explosion, OSHA determined that flammable vapor from mineral spirits, a petroleum solvent used for cleaning and other purposes, ignited in an industrial washing machine. The company was cited for a half-dozen violations and fined $27,000, according to OSHA records.

Fire officials say tanks containing mineral spirits were at the Toledo plant. The company says on its website that it uses mineral spirits in the cleaning process for work gloves, wiping clothes and other textiles that contain hazardous substances.

In 2004, OSHA cited Brent Industries for two serious violations at its Toledo plant, including failing to protect workers from death or serious harm when they were exposed to a 207-degree Fahrenheit (97 Celsius) steam release from a washing machine, OSHA records show.

____

Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.