Cleveland mayor expects ‘major impact’ after fire destroys aerospace company
BY KYLE HINCHEY Tulsa World kyle.hinchey@tulsaworld.com
CLEVELAND, OK — A massive blaze that broke out at a Pawnee County aerospace building and sent two workers to the hospital Tuesday afternoon could have a large financial impact on the city of Cleveland.
Fire Chief Ryan Murray said the Cleveland Fire Department received a report of an explosion about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at ICES Corp., along U.S. 64 just south of the city. When firefighters got there, they found two injured employees who were taken to a Tulsa hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. Crews from about 15 agencies battled the blaze at the 60,000-squarefoot facility throughout the evening and had it contained by about 10:30 p.m. The building continued to smolder Wednesday morning, and Murray said it could take at least a week for the hot spots to completely diminish.
“In the office area, there was some rooms with a bunch of paperwork and stuff in them,” Murray said. “(The fire) got in there, and it’s going to smolder for a while.”
The two injured employees appeared to have been the only people working, as operations were set to resume next week following the holiday break.
One victim, 54, suffered burns to his hands and ears and was being treated for smoke inhalation, Cleveland Mayor Brian Torres said. The other victim, 31, suffered third-degree burns to three-fourths of his arms and his knees. Both men remained hospitalized Wednesday afternoon. Torres said the fire appeared to have started as some kind of equipment malfunction while the employees were performing maintenance on the floors of the building. The men reportedly heard a “whoosh” before seeing the flames spread. Authorities do not believe an explosion occurred.
The fire quickly spread to the entire building, which was a total loss.
“It pretty much turned into an oven inside of the building,” said Murray, the fire chief. “These metal buildings are pretty much like an oven. You can’t hardly get on the roof of them to open them up, to get all the heat and the smoke out. That was our biggest deal, the smoke and the heat.”
State fire marshals were investigating the blaze and spent several hours at the site Wednesday.
Murray said the destruction of the facility will take a toll on the community, as those employees are likely unable to go back to work.
ICES Corp. is a manufacturer of airplane parts and employs about 35 people, most of whom are residents of Cleveland, which has a population of about 3,200. The company is one of the city’s largest employers and has an estimated payroll of $1 million, Torres said.
In addition to a potential loss of jobs for several Cleveland residents, the city also likely will be affected by the significant drop in utilities that the company purchases.
“It’s a major impact,” he said. “We’re doing everything that we can do to find them temporary places until they can get rebuilt, if they so choose to do that.”
Torres said there’s always a possibility the owner of the company, which has been in the Cleveland area for at least 16 years, could choose to rebuild elsewhere, a move city officials hope doesn’t happen. A conversation between the owner, Mike Mills, and the mayor on Tuesday indicated he wanted to stay, however.
Mills, who reportedly founded the company in his garage in 1994, has not been available for comment on the fire. Torres said the man was in shock when the two spoke and that he assured him the city would do what it could to help.
Torres said he has been in contact with locals who have facilities that could house temporary offices and machinery until a new building is constructed. He estimates rebuilding could take at least a year.