WARREN, Ohio - Investigators are probing the cause of Monday mornings explosion and fire that ripped through a portion of the RG Steel plant in Warren.
Fire officials say they know what happened, but are trying to determine why it happened.
The explosion shocked residents from their sleep just before 2:00 a.m.
And the first fire trucks were on the scene within minutes and the next call was for extra help. Eventually firefighters and equipment from eight different Trumbull County departments were on the scene.
Warren Township Fire Chief Ken Shick says the explosion was at the blast furnace. "What happened was there was an explosion at the number four stove, when it exploded it blew everything out of the top of the stove and it landed the hot steel and hot debris on the machine shop."
The chief says most of the fire was in the machine shop and they had little chance to save it.
"When we got on the scene, probably 75% of the machine shop was totally engulfed in fire," Shick said.
Two construction trailers at the scene also caught fire and were destroyed.
After about three hours, the fire was contained and under control around 5:00 a.m.
Chief Shick says there were no injuries to any firefighters or plant employees.
There's been no official statement about the incident released by RG Steel.
The fire chief says he believes the damages will be in the millions of dollars.
The chief says that he was told the blast furnace was shutdown, but that the plant was expected to resume operations by later Monday evening.
