Multiple fire crews called to battle Sparta industrial fire

Fire crews at the scene of an industrial fire at Cascade Die Casting Group in Sparta on Thursday, June 1 (Elizabeth Nass | MLive)

KENT COUNTY, MI -- Multiple fire crews responded to the scene of an industrial fire Thursday at Cascade Die Casting Group in Sparta.

The fire was reported through the fire alarm Thursday, June 1 about 9:55 a.m. at 9983 Sparta Ave. NW, near 12 Mile Road. Sparta Avenue NW also is known as State Street.

There were 911 calls reported of a fire on the roof and inside of the building. Sparta Fire Chief Dan Olney said the fire began in the middle of the building, then moved to the roof.

Olney said the building was evacuated and there were no initial reports of injuries to any employees. However, he said two firefighters suffered heat exhaustion and were transported to the hospital.

"When it gets into these hotter conditions, we’re not able to go as long fighting fire because of the gear," he said. "The gear we put on weighs about 70 pounds. When it's all said and done, it takes a lot of energy out of you and people get dehydrated quickly."

While the cause of the fire is unknown and remains under investigation, Olney said the cause may have been associated with machines that were processing aluminum, as the Die Casting Group works with putting high pressure on molten metal.

Olney said the fire departments had to be careful about the amount of water they were using due to the threat of an explosion when water reacts with hot aluminum.

He said they were in contact with the Emergency Management Office throughout the fire to understand how to fight the fire with the chemicals that were present in the building.

There were multiple fire departments called to the scene to help, including Alpine Township, Kent City, Plainfield Township, Algoma Township, Walker, Chester Township and Wright Township.

The fire was contained in a little under an hour.

Olney said the building was salvageable even with significant damage to the roof and minor internal damage to the machines that were in close proximity to the fire.

Reporter John Tunison contributed to this article.

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