March 16, 2006

Pieces of hot metal fell from a welder's torch onto bags of metallic dust, starting the March 9 fire that damaged a warehouse at an aluminum processing plant south of Lebanon, according to a state police fire marshal.

Hours before the fire broke out, a welder worked in the Lebanon Valley Aluminum warehouse in the Lebanon Valley Business Park to build an interior wall to separate LVA and another occupant, Ressler Hardwood and Flooring, Fire Marshal Michael Yeity said yesterday.

Pieces of hot metal fell from the welder's torch onto some of the half-ton bags of dust stored in Lebanon Valley Aluminum's warehouse, near the plant in South Lebanon Twp., Yeity said.