By Sean Hillard
The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
GARDNERS, Pa. — Earl Spangler was at home in Gardners listening to his police scanner Sunday when he heard a business down the street was on fire.
He grabbed his coat before he realized it was also where he worked.
The blaze at Zeigler Brothers in Tyrone Township wasn’t threatening his house, but it was threatening his livelihood.
“There was just smoke coming out everywhere,” Spangler said.
Firefighters from five counties came out at 10:30 a.m. and battled the blaze at the feed mill for about seven hours before the last firefighters left, said Aspers Fire Co. Chief Donnie Haines.
According to Adams County Control, firefighters were called back out twice Sunday night because the fire rekindled.
Firefighters had only had about a half-hour’s rest before the report of the first rekindling came across, Haines said.
The mill had been the scene of other fires, including one in 2002.
This weekend’s fire is being investigated as accidental by Adams County Fire Marshal Glenn Herring, Haines said. A damage estimate was not available, but the building is insured.
It is believed to have started in the basement, where the company made and bagged fish and shrimp feed, Haines said.
But within the first hour of the fire, a large, three-story section of the mill collapsed, Haines said.
“With it being a wood building with a steel frame, you can’t tell when or if it’s going to collapse – it just goes,” he said.
No firefighters were injured during the course of the day, and only one maintenance worker was in at the time of the fire and he made it out safely, Haines said.
Aspers Fire Co. Capt. Lewis Alexander said the prompt response of the numerous fire companies ensured the blaze didn’t spread to the rest of the mill – or the neighborhood.
“If there was anything good, it was that (the fire) happened on a weekend when all the fire companies could respond,” he said.
The fire was contained within an hour-and-a-half, Haines said.
The attached warehouse where the feed is stored was saved and only had minor smoke and water damage, Haines said.
But as firefighters fought the blaze into the late night hours, the covered embers were still smoldering in places.
“They won’t know how bad it is until (the company) starts cleaning it up,” Haines said.
Not the first
Zeigler Brothers ships fish, shrimp and specialty feed to residents and businesses locally and as far away as Nicaragua, Spangler said. The company has been supplying hatcheries and residents since 1935.
Sunday wasn’t the first time the mill’s been damaged by fire, according to Caycey Jones, a former human relations department worker and current consultant with the company.
There was a “devastating” fire there in 1963 that started in a feed elevator, she said.
“It took some time for the business to recover from it,” Jones said.
But another fire that hit close to home happened in 2002.
Jones was coming back from a basketball game in Gettysburg with her children when she was passed by a Gettysburg Fire Dept. engine. When she was still following behind it in Biglerville, she knew something was seriously wrong.
“It’s truly a chilling feeling when a fire truck drives by with its siren on and you think it’s going to your house,” Jones said.
She was close to the truth. The fire was in fact at Zeigler Brothers’ feed mill, where some parts had caught fire.
It was only closed about a day – until the company could replace the damaged parts.
It is unclear how long or what the impact of Sunday’s fire will be on the company because the owners were unavailable for comment at the time of the fire.
Insurance investigators and Herring are expected to be at the company today to determine the building’s value and the cause of the fire, respectively.