A fire at one of Skyline Homes’ manufacturing plants in Upper Leacock Township, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Thursday evening (Jan. 8) destroyed three homes that were under construction. Fire officials determined that the cause of the fire was likely a malfunctioning electric fan used to remove moisture from drywall.

Lancaster Online  tells MHProNews   that Mike Scheid, a division general manager for Skyline Homes, said the fire destroyed two modular homes and one manufactured home, all less than 2,000 square feet in size. He estimates that damage to the homes will total a few hundred thousand dollars and damage to the plant is around $100,000. “The home was mostly finished, but did not have electricity yet, so an extension cord was supplying power to the fan,” Scheid said. “There are holes in the roof and the garage doors need replaced,” he said, as well as smoke and water damage.

No one was inside the plant when the 11 p.m. blaze started inside the reportedly nearly completed modular home. Fortunately, alarms went off and the sprinkler system did not allow flames to spread from the burning home. Scheid said that water damage was confined to two bays in the 170,000-square-foot building, which is the biggest of three at this production center.

To vent the heavy smoke, firefighters cut holes in the roof and garage doors of the building. Then they cut the modular homes on the line into pieces and removed them from the production building. About 100 firefighters extinguished the fire. No firefighters were injured, but walking was treacherous because water was turning to ice because of the cold weather.

Scheid said 165 people work full-time at the plant. “Everyone is here today cleaning,” he said. “I will have this plant back running again at full production Tuesday morning.” ##

(Photo Credit: Lancaster Online)

 

Article Submitted by Sandra Lane to – Daily Business News- MHProNews.