CLEVELAND — Fire crews battled a large fire at a manufacturing facility in Cleveland’s west side on Wednesday morning. AJ Rose Manufacturing, the company that operates the facility, said the fire caused propane and nitrogen tanks to explode. The threat was contained and brought under control, and no one was hurt in the incident, officials said.
Over 50 firefighters and 11 companies responded to the two-alarm fire at the two-story building, according to a tweet from Cleveland Fire.
#CLEFIREONSCENE Working Fire in 2-Story Manufacturing Building at W.38/Clark in Battalion 4. Second Alarm (Signal 2-2-2) struck bringing 11 Companies and over 50 firefighters to the scene. No injuries reported. HazMat Specialist responding. Cause of fire under investigation. pic.twitter.com/Hfwce9GHDV
— ClevelandFire (@ClevelandFire) March 1, 2023
All employees were safely evacuated, and no one was hurt in the incident, AJ Rose confirmed in a statement.
The fire caused some nitrogen tanks used in the tooling processes and propane tanks used for forklifts to explode, the company said. Cleveland Fire contained that threat and HazMat units responded to the scene.
The explosions reported at the 2-2-2 Fire at W38/Clark were propane tanks from tow motors. pic.twitter.com/TrH16vdixq
— ClevelandFire (@ClevelandFire) March 1, 2023
Cleveland Fire and OSHA are investigating the cause of the fire. AJ Rose said the plant will be shut down for the remainder of the day and second and third-shift workers have been notified.
AJ Rose Manufacturing is a global supplier of stamped metal components and assemblies, according to the company's website. The Cleveland facility is 110,000 square feet and has 95 employees.
The fire was brought under control by about 10:08 a.m., Cleveland Fire said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
AirTracker 5 was live over the scene Wednesday morning - watch the footage below:
This is the third local industrial accident in the last few weeks, following the East Palestine train derailment and the Oakwood Village foundry explosion.
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