Investigation Report Released On SPS Technologies Fire

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — The township's fire marshal has released the report on the investigation into the massive SPS Technologies fire in mid-February.

Abington Township Fire Marshal Chris Platz came to several conclusions after investigating the Feb. 17 massive fire that gutted the 600,000-square-foot Highland Avenue building.

The Abington Township Fire Department responded, along with 70 mutual aid agencies, to a fire with explosions at the SPS Technologies manufacturing facility at 301 Highland Avenue.

The size and complexity of the fire elevated the response to a 4+ alarm fire, with responding agencies from throughout Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Chester, and Lehigh counties.

The fire was extinguished several days later after 114 hours of dedicated efforts by all responders. Notably, there was not a single injury to any occupant or first responder.

Due to the investigation's complexity, assistance was requested of numerous area fire marshals, as well as support from the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal’s Unit and the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Platz said the investigation determined the area of the compressed air system infrastructure within the building as the area of origin for the fire.

The investigation was unable to determine the specific failure in the system. In accordance with NFPA 921, when multiple hypotheses cannot be eliminated, a fire is to be deemed undetermined.

Accordingly, due to numerous potential hypotheses as to what failed within the compressed air system infrastructure remaining, the fire cause has been deemed undetermined.

However, Platz said the fire can be classified as accidental, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives classification system, based on results of the investigation.

As a result of the extensive investigative efforts by the team on scene, at this time, the fire marshal can state:

• There was what appears to be a failure of the compressed air system infrastructure within the building, resulting in numerous explosions and fires throughout.
• There is no indication of an intentionally set fire within the structure.
• There is no indication of any negligence/malicious intent on behalf of SPS Technologies that led to this fire.

For more information and available updates, please visit www.abingtonpa.gov/spsupdates.