Class action in SPS Technologies Fire is submitted to negligent company negligence

The four-alarm factory fire in Montgomery County, which started with a number of explosions last Monday evening, the schools, the septa trains, triggered local evacuations and the officers from Abington finally explained to explain a state of emergency 3:53 p.m. On Saturday, the municipality was wiped out by the municipality.

Now comes the complicated part: who will pay?

SPS Technologies, a manufacturer of aerospace parts, faces a potential class action that is claimed that the company's negligence in its 600,000 square meter work in the Highland Avenue has contributed to the fire.

The lawsuit claims that PLC does not inspect the facility, maintain it or properly maintain the forms of industry.

The senior plaintiff is a local school bus driver, but the suit is looking for “hundreds, if not thousands” of people and companies who may have damages, including lost wages, reduced value of their real estate and emotional stress.

“While it is too early to fully determine the basic cause of this catastrophe or the current or future effects on the environment and health, it is not too early to say … There were numerous operational failures and well -managed production The facility not only catches fire, exploded and then burned uncontrollably, ”the lawsuit says.

SPS did not immediately answer a comment on Sunday. The cause of the fire is still examined by the local firefighter and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. No deaths were reported.

The lawsuit was submitted on Thursday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court by the law firm Saltz Mondelphia Bendesky, which represented the victims of the collapse of the Salvation Army 2013 and the collapse of 2021 in Suburban Miami 2021; and Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, one in Nashville, Tenn. local law firm, which was involved in national opioid disputes.

“We have this massive factory and it basically burned spontaneously,” said Patrick Howard, a lawyer with Saltz Monsgeluzzi Bendesky, on Sunday. “An hour is perfectly fine, then it burned in the next hour. That is our good base of faith to say that something went wrong. “

SPS that the precisions of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corp. Sounds, produces special nuts, bolts and other fastenings for the aviation and aerospace industry. The company is a great generator of chemical waste, some of which are classified as “brilliant”.

In 2023, PLC achieved an agreement with the US Ministry of Environmental Protection (EPA) to pay 109,000 US dollars for the storage of chemicals without permission. Previously, she was examined for underground warehouse tanks that entered the groundwater.

When the fire broke out on Monday, firefighters were concerned that some of the chemicals could form arsenic when they were mixed. Firefighters from 68 fire brigade companies reacted to the scene.

Subsequent tests of the EPA and the Department of Environmental Protection from Pennsylvania have not shown any major air or water problems, said officials. The tests in the region continue.

“Read more: No impurities in air or water supply, as a PLC technologies for the fourth day in a row, say officials, say officials

During a press conference on Tuesday, while the fire brigade was still fighting against the Blaze, but that the company “pursued all the precautionary measures that are necessary in accordance with the law”.

“You had a fire station and … you have a fire brigade on site … [which] Allows you to continue operating even if the sprinkler system was not in operation, ”said McANeney.

According to the reaction data of the fire brigade, which were raised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, there were past, smaller fires in the factory. They show that the local fire departments reacted to at least four fire reports between 2022 and 2023.

Howard said the submission of the lawsuit at an early stage would enable external experts to get access to company documents and other information that could be relevant for the fire.

“I think there are legitimate concerns that people may have been influenced by people,” said Howard and moved possible parallels to train trains in February 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.

On Saturday afternoon, Abington officials announced that the fire, which was unexpectedly used on Tuesday morning, was finally triggered.

“This was a Herculean effort of fire and emergency management services. We cannot thank the over 100 different responding agencies that the community supported in their efforts, ”says the municipality's explanation.

Governor Josh Shapiro was on site on Saturday to inspect the clean -up work and thank first aiders.

A former employee last week informed the Inquirer that he reminded at least half a dozen fires in his work in his 37 years at the factory and that it often happened enough so that the company once had its own fire engine. “They were published quickly enough,” he said. “Somehow it felt like it had come with the job.”

A current PLC employee, with knowledge of the facility, said the building had been working without work for about two months.

“Was I surprised to hear that [the place] Was on flames? Yes, ”said the employee. “Was I surprised to hear how bad it was? NO.”