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Investigators seek cause of big explosion at Griswold Manufacturing
By Phil Trexler Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Sep 04, 2007
RAVENNA: The explosion resonated throughout Ravenna, rousing residents from their holiday morning sleep and shooting debris skyward.
In the end, the Griswold Manufacturing Inc. building was left a mere shell, with metal walls twisted and blown out and slightly charred fiberglass insulation scattered about the grounds.
Because of Monday's Labor Day holiday, the building at state Route 88 and Peck Road was empty and no one was reported injured.
While the company president said the explosion that rocked
the area appeared to be caused by a build-up of natural gas, fire officials say the exact cause won't be known for weeks.
''It was a boom. Just a boom, but it was loud enough that it woke me up,'' said Deborah Green, who lives about two miles from the building. ''I really wasn't sure if I dreamed it because I was asleep. All I know is it was extremely loud and it did shake my house.''
Green was among about a dozen people who visited the site Monday afternoon to look at the damage. Some onlookers used cell phones and cameras to photograph the scene. Most marveled at the destruction.
''It's unbelievable,'' Ravenna resident Rod Cunningham said.
Bob Walker, Ravenna Fire Department public information officer, said the explosion occurred just before 7 a.m. His department and the Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office are investigating.
Walker said it has not been determined if natural gas caused the explosion.
''There's a lot of things that can be attributed to something like this,'' he said.
The building's perimeter was cordoned off with yellow caution tape. The debris visible showed little fire damage.
The sheet-metal walls were mangled, exposing the steel support beams. Shards of glass were shot into the grass about 100 feet from the building. A sheet of metal was blown out with such force that it was driven into the ground.
Terry Gaab, Griswold's president, told television station WEWS that a firefighter at the scene said he smelled gas when he arrived at the explosion site. Gaab could not be reached for comment Monday night.
Griswold Machine and Engineering operates a plant on North Freedom Road, which it purchased from Hollingsworth Container in 2000, and also owns the Route 88 facility. The company has 117 employees locally, and only about five to seven workers regularly were assigned to the Route 88 building.
According to its Web site, the company is privately owned and headquartered in Union City, Mich. Griswold is a manufacturer of construction trench-shoring supplies and material-handling containers.
Nearby residents said the explosion shook their beds and windows. Many initially thought the noise was from the nearby Ravenna Arsenal.
No damage was reported to nearby homes. Fire officials say only slight damage was done to Sirna and Sons Produce next to the Griswold building.
Dustin Senty, a former Griswold employee, lives about five miles away and was awakened by the noise. He said Griswold moved into the building earlier this year. It was used for meetings and storage of metal-processing machinery.
RAVENNA: The explosion resonated throughout Ravenna, rousing residents from their holiday morning sleep and shooting debris skyward.
Get the full article here.
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