Fire-Ravaged Business Focuses on Filling Customers’ Orders

By Tim Hahn, Erie Times-News, Pa.

Apr. 28–UNION CITY — The folks at Suburban Molding are out of “crisis management mode,” co-owner David McGuire said Thursday.

The focus now, nearly a week after a fire destroyed the company’s shop at 9225 Route 6, is on getting their customers’ products made, he said.

The remnants of the 15,000-square-foot building were leveled earlier this week after state police fire marshal Trooper Peter Schaefer finished his investigation into what caused the fire.

Schaefer has ruled the fire as accidental. A motor on a compressor that malfunctioned and overheated apparently set it off, he said.

The fire broke out shortly before 2:30 p.m. Saturday. It extended into the attic from a room on the southeast corner of the plant and quickly spread throughout the building, Schaefer said.

Thirteen volunteer fire departments spent hours working to bring the fire under control but were unable to save the building.

None of the employees who were in the shop at the time of the fire was injured.

McGuire said Thursday that it was too premature to talk about the future of the plant, which employed 45 and produced electrical and household components.

Employees are in the process of cleaning the tools used to make various products. The tools are owned by Suburban Molding’s customers and in some cases will be passed along to “friendly competitors” to turn out the products the customers need in the short term, McGuire said.

Suburban Molding officials have been helped along in the days after the fire by the support of their community, their suppliers, competitors and the local industrial community, McGuire said.

“They’ve offered support, aid, anything we need,” he said.

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