Abington company that caught fire had toxic ‘ignitable waste’ on site and had past EPA violations

SPS Technologies, which erupted into a four-alarm blaze Monday night, is well known to state and federal environmental regulators as a large generator of chemical waste, some of which is categorized as “ignitable.”

As a result, officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection rushed to the scene in Abington, Montgomery County.

Abington Township officials released a statement Tuesday saying that hazardous material teams and the DEP are “actively monitoring the air quality and runoff water both at the site and in the surrounding area. Thus far, no threats to public health or safety have been detected. Drinking water is not impacted. Monitoring efforts will continue in the coming days to ensure the safety of the community.”

The officials had noted that there were “changing conditions and concerns of air quality.” They asked residents of seven nearby streets to voluntarily evacuate “while conditions permit.”

At a news conference, Abington Police Chief Patrick Molloy said that, as of 4:30 p.m., the DEP and hazmat crews had not detected any hazardous substances in the air or groundwater.

“We do know that they use very harsh chemicals in the aeronautical engineer engineering process of making bolts and fasteners,” Molloy said. “So, out of an abundance of caution, we made that decision to [encourage residents to] self-evacuate.”

» READ MORE: Live updates: Fire crews battle massive industrial fire at SPS Technologies in Jenkintown; shelter-in-place order in effect

The site has a long history of using toxic chemicals for industrial applications as far back as the early 1900s.

The 32-acre property is surrounded by rail lines and Tookany Creek to the south and east. Commercial development lies to the north, and homes and parks surround it to the east and west.

It is adjacent to Abington Township’s Hallowell Park, which includes soccer and softball fields, and was named after Howard T. Hallowell, the founder of SPS Technologies.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia officials said that multiple city agencies were assessing for any impact on the city. SPS Technologies is about two miles from the Philadelphia border.

“The Health Department has dispatched inspectors to the area to collect air samples to assess air quality and the potential for any threat,” said a statement by the city. “At this time, no specific hazardous substances have been identified.”

Other city agencies, including the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, Fire Department, and Water Department, were also monitoring the situation.

SPS Technologies is classified as a chemical treatment, storage, and disposal facility and generates electroplating solutions and sludges as part of its operations.

At the site, SPS Technologies makes precision metal fasteners and special machined parts, primarily for the aviation and aerospace industries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

It has permits to handle chemicals, some of which are toxic, meaning they have the potential to cause harmful effects on people, including workers and first responders.

However, officials said they had no information as of Tuesday that anyone had been exposed to toxic amounts of chemicals.

The company is routinely inspected and monitored and handles large volumes of potentially toxic chemicals including trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and 1-2 dichloroethane.

In 2023, the most recent data available, SPS Technologies generated and disposed of 177 tons of chemicals, according to the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory.

That included a classification of chemicals known as “ignitable waste,” which include paint and ink. More specifically, the waste contained benzene and methyl ethyl ketone.

Even if the Jenkintown facility contained no hazardous materials, smoke and fumes from a fire in a large, older building can pose a serious risk for people nearby, said Jamie Garfield, a professor of thoracic medicine and surgery at Temple University’s Lung Center.

“Buildings are made with heavy metals, and the combustion process will release small particles,” she said. An N-95 or K-N95 mask can filter out particles larger than 3 microns, she said, but some small particles can slip through.

The air quality index (AQI), a measure of the safety of the air we breathe, can help determine some risks but does not measure all hazardous substances in the air, Garfield said.

For example, standard AQI measures do not differentiate among the types of particulate matter that could be in the air.

And Garfield noted that weather conditions also play into risks from particulate matter. She said it could be some time before authorities know whether the risk of exposure is gone.

“If the wind takes this off shore, then that’s great, but it could easily spin it around and bring it inland and we could have much longer-lasting exposure and injuries,” Garfield said.

Robert Laumbach, an assistant professor at the Rutgers University School of Public Health, said that “some of the solvents that could be present at the factory can be toxic if inhaled in sufficient quantities.”

But, he said, there’s too much uncertainty to know whether chemical compounds were exposed to high heat and, if so, how much.

Jane Clougherty, a professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, called the fire “a very disconcerting event.”

She noted that benzene is “one of the few toxins declared as a known carcinogen,” meaning that exposure to it can increase the risk of developing cancer. And she was concerned by the presence of vinyl chloride at the factory.

Laumbach was among the doctors who treated police officers exposed to a vinyl chloride spill in Paulsboro, Gloucester County, after a 2013 train crash.

Burning vinyl chloride, he said, produces hydrogen chloride, which can irritate lungs “and, in the short term, is much worse than vinyl chloride.”

But he said more information is needed as emergency management officials assess rapidly changing conditions.

The experts said that people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic lung disease, as well as older adults, are at particular risk from adverse air quality events.

They said it could take days or weeks before people feel effects.

Most recently, in 2023, SPS Technologies reached an agreement with the EPA to pay $109,000 for storing chemicals without a permit.

The discovery came during a visit by a DEP inspector who found large storage containers had not been property labeled. For example, one 55-gallon container labeled “Hazardous Waste,” “Toxic,” and “Corrosive” was found on a pallet. Workers said they were unsure of what was inside.

The DEP has cited the company for violations in the last few years, but none appears to have posed a public health threat.

As part of operations, the facility has used electroplating baths containing cadmium, chromium, silver, and cyanides. More recently, those operations included solvent wastes generated from degreasing operations.

Environmental regulators found issues at the site as far back as the 1980s, when the EPA began investigating underground storage tanks that leaked trichloroethylene into groundwater beneath the facility.

Low levels of the compound were found in the groundwater until 2010. Low levels of cadmium were also found through 2012. Later EPA sampling failed to detect the contamination. SPS Technologies has had to take several corrective actions for violations after that.

In 2015, an EPA assessment of the site identified multiple areas of concern, including soil and groundwater. Screening showed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals in the soil and water. However, none of the concentrations exceeded levels of safety for drinking water.

“Therefore, there are no risks to human health or the environment for any use at this facility including residential,” the EPA concluded at the time.