Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)
Akron firefighters are responding to a fire this morning at the Akron Airdock.
The historic airdock is owned by Lockheed Martin and is where the company plans to make the $149.2 million prototype High Altitude Airship. The mammoth building is being renovated for construction of the Lockheed Martin airship. Airship construction is scheduled to start in 2007.
Akron Fire Department spokesman Ed Sturkey said at 11:55 a.m. that between 15 and 20 Akron fire companies were on the scene.
The fire is in the “upper, outer north side of the building,” Sturkey said. He said a blimp did not appear to be involved in the fire.
Aerial ladders were being used to pump “master streams” of water on the structure, he said.
Sturkey said he could not estimate how much of the structure was involved.
Sturkey said there were no injuries.
As of noon, flames were still visible, according to eyewitnesses.
Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Kate Dunlap said she had just arrived at the airdock and was unsure about the size of the fire.
Tonia Lawley of Springfield Township said she was driving past the airdock with a friend about 11:10 a.m., saw a section of the airdock had caught fire and pulled her vehicle over near Akron Municipal Airport to watch what was happening.
“The whole one end of the airdock is in flames,” she said, speaking on her cell phone shortly after arriving at the scene. “It’s like flames are racing up the whole side, with a lot of black, billowing smoke. The Fire Department wasn’t even there when I first called (the Akron Beacon Journal).”
She said she could not tell if there were injuries, or if the structure had been evacuated.
“You could see people standing out at the base area (of the structure), looking up at the flames,” Lawley said. “It was like a long, narrow section (of flames) that was racing up the side of the building, almost like you see in the movies when they put the match to the trail of gasoline and there’s like a long, skinny line of fire. It was racing up the side like that, from the base to the top.”
From Lawley’s description of where she was, it appeared that the fire was to the northeast side of the airdock.
She said she saw the first firefighters and trucks arriving at the scene about 11:20 a.m.