Former Dayton soap factory catches fire
Linden Avenue facility also burned in 2016.
A fire Friday morning at the Hewitt Soap Co. factory is the largest in the city of Dayton since the property caught fire last year, officials said, coming within hours of a significant fire at a nearby grocery store.
The soap factory fire, which fully engulfed a three-story structure on Linden Avenue, was so large that its flames and black smoke clouds could be seen from miles away.
Dayton Fire Chief Jeff Payne ordered the emergency demolition of large sections of the building because officials determined it to be a safety issue, at risk of collapse.
The part of the factory that caught fire last December already had been reduced to rubble. The city of Dayton paid a demolition firm to clean up the site, which wrapped up last month.
Brett Houseman, whose family owns the Hewitt Soap Co. property, says the fire may have been started by a trespasser since the building has attracted metal scrappers, vandals and other uninvited visitors.
“The city is not doing enough to stop this,” he said.
The fire was reported around 6 a.m. Friday.
A 911 caller on his way to work told emergency dispatch, “Linden Avenue, I think it’s the old Hewitt Soap Factory again. It’s smoking, it is smoking everywhere, I can see flames inside.”
The fire required a massive response, including six of the fire department’s eight engines called to the scene, officials said.
Multiple walls of the building collapsed, and fire crews did not enter the structure for safety reasons.
Firefighters doused the blaze with thousands of gallons water using an aerial ladder truck.
Large structure fires are “very taxing” on the fire department, which also worked another structure fire a few blocks away at Food For Less on Third Street on Thursday night.
“This was a really, really big fire, and when I got there, every floor was completely involved,” Chief Payne said.
The structure that burned was part of the main factory building. It once held offices and was used for storage.
This blaze comes less than 11 months after a southern portion of the factory complex, called the kettle house, was destroyed by fire.
One building situated between the two that caught fire, called Area 50, remains standing.
The cause of the December 2016 factory fire was never determined because the building was reduced to rubble, which prevented investigators from performing a complete investigation, Payne said.
The cause of this fire is under investigation, and it’s too early to say what might have led to it, officials said.
Bob Ringo, facilities manager, is responsible for keeping the soap factory building secure.
He said he checked on the building late Thursday afternoon and did not find anything out of the ordinary. Houseman said his family has been actively trying to sell the soap factory buildings, and two buildings at the northern end of the property (called building 9 and building 10) have attracted interest from a Canadian firm.
He said the building that burned had some redevelopment potential since it had a wide-open layout, but that’s now gone.