![]() Fueled by tons of sugar, the fire was racing upwards and flames could soon be seen in many of the windows. When the firemen and company employees looked up, they realized that it was already probably too late. Outside the factory the first fire companies quickly deployed, frantically setting up ladders, while spreading out hoses. But soon, choking fumes reached the area where they were unloading the barrels and they had no choice but to abandon the plant. Other workers were removing stacks of records, while some others were trying to wheel out barrels of sugar. Dense masses of potentially flammable vapor poured into the areas where the workers were now using the hose to douse the blaze. The fire moved both upwards and downwards at an alarming speed. ![]() The fireboat Havemeyer even appeared on the scene from Manhattan, trying to douse the flames, but all the firefighters’ efforts were in vain. Four horse-drawn engines responded to the first alarm and four additional companies also answered the second alarm, but twelve minutes had elapsed since the fire was reported, and this interval had given the fire time to spread. There were precious minutes of indecision, which wasted critical time in finding and turning on the water spigot for the hose. About fifty hands on duty at the plant rushed to refinery, grabbing hoses and attempting to put out the blaze. The watchman pulled an alarm, alerting the plant’s workers and sending a signal to the fire department. Dense smoke quickly filled the room and flames soon leapt from storeroom. The night shift was just appearing at 4pm when watchman Edward Haman began to smell smoke and found the flames in a storeroom on the refinery’s first floor. Three watchmen, two superintendents and two assistants remained in the refinery. For a quarter century they had refined huge amounts of sugar without incident, but their luck would run out that January day.Īt about three o’ clock in the afternoon, Theodore Havemeyer made his customary inspection of the plant and noticed nothing suspicious. The presence of steam, thousands of moving parts that could cause sparks in the refinery and the highly flammable sugar all made fire a grave risk. Having been in the sugar business for more than eighty years, the Havemeyer family knew the danger that fires often broke out in sugar refineries. The refinery, the largest building in Williamsburg at the time, was nine stories high, covering an entire block on Wythe Avenue between South Third and South Fourth streets and stretching some two hundred feet in from the street to the East river shore. On a frigid January night, the Havemeyer and Elder Refinery, which would forty years later be renamed as Domino, went up in one of the most spectacular fires the area had ever witnessed. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.January 9th marks the one hundred thirty-sixth anniversary of one of the most destructive fires in North Brooklyn. The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration later fined the company $4,000 for allowing the dust to accumulate. In 2007, sugar dust caused an explosion that injured three employees, destroyed equipment and shattered windows. This isn't the first time the plant has had a brush with disaster. The company is using available inventory and capacity elsewhere in its network to fulfill orders. A shipment of raw sugar is locally available at the Annapolis anchorage and is ready to return to the refinery. Full operations will be restored as soon as possible.Ĭleanup efforts began Thursday. There were no injuries to either employees or firefighters and the plant's 510 employees returned to work Wednesday, even as fire crews continued to tackle hot spots.Īmerican Sugar Refining, Inc., owner of the Baltimore Refinery, announces the refinery is currently online and processing, packaging and shipping sugars that were in process or ready to ship when the refinery shut down on Tuesday due to a fire. The fire was confined to the shed and did not damage the refinery itself. We remain committed to continuing to supply our customers during this time.” “We are confident that the talent and dedication of the Baltimore Refinery’s employees will ensure the refinery will quickly overcome this challenge. “We want to thank the men and women of the Baltimore City Fire Department, our employees and everyone who ensured that no injuries occurred,” Luis Fernandez, co-president of ASR Group, said in a statement. They pledged to restore full operations as soon as possible. ![]() ![]() The iconic Domino Sugar plant in Locust Point is up and running again, two days after a three-alarm fire destroyed the plant's silo and conveyor belt.Īmerican Sugar Refining Inc., the refinery's owner, announced Thursday the facility was back online and processing, packaging and shipping sugars that were in process or ready to ship when the fire broke out Tuesday.
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