WILMINGTON — The Wilmington Fire Department was dispatched to TimberTech AZEK on Prairie Drive around 10 a.m. Friday on a report of a grinder fire.
Dispatch reported that employees had been evacuated, but the fire was isolated to one section of the plant. One pumper truck and one ambulance were at the scene at around 10:30 a.m. No injuries were reported.
Wilmington Fire Chief Andy Mason told the News Journal that the fire was in an area where the company grinds product to reuse it later.
“A motor overheated; we had to tear apart two or three machines to make sure the fire was completely out,” Mason said. He added that the scene was cleared after about an hour-and-a-half.
Three days ago, on Tuesday evening — in a different part of the building from the Friday fire — firefighters and paramedics were called to the plant when fire broke out in an industrial dryer for wood pulp or flours. Since the dryers are connected by vents, small fires spread on light beams and pipes.
That fire “jumped to other pieces of machinery and the structure,” Wilmington Fire Lt. Rick Birt told the News Journal Wednesday. “The machinery had severe damage and the structure had minor damage.”
One employee was reported injured in the Tuesday fire.
