2:38 pm EST March 16, 2006
LANCASTER, Pa. -- More than 50 firefighters had a tough time battling a big blaze at a historic Lancaster business Thursday.Four workers were inside the Miesse Candies factory along the 700 block of Lafayette Street when fire ripped through it around 2 p.m.
A resident who lived nearby helped all of the employees get out safely. No one was hurt. Firefighters had their hands full as they said chocolate was literally running in the street. First they had to overcome low water pressure at two hydrants. They ended up running 1,000 feet of hose from another hydrant to get the water they needed.
The fire also burned through gas lines inside the business, making for a potentially explosive situation."The biggest problem we had was the gas line right inside the front wall of the building that burned off," said Duane Hagelgans, of the Lancaster City Fire Department. "Once that gas line burned off, we could not put the fire out because the problem is you have free-flowing gas and then you have potential for explosion."The fire started in the ceiling of the storage area and was electrical in nature, said Hagelgans.
According to officials, there was about $2 million worth of product lost inside the factory, and the building itself sustained about $250,000 worth of damage.
