Akron firefighters battled a raging fire that started Wednesday evening at an abandoned rubber factory north of downtown. The blaze could be seen throughout the city.
Signal Akron witnessed flames still emanating from the reportedly vacant, three-story Beech Street factory on Thursday morning. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
By Thursday evening, the building was a charred shell and remnants of the fire were still producing clouds of smoke that blew across nearby North Howard Street.
“When the fire companies arrived on scene, they found heavy fire and black smoke coming through the roof and out of the windows,” the Akron Fire Department said in a statement on Wednesday night. “A second-alarm was declared. Using a defensive strategy, multiple large streams of water were utilized from the exterior of the building to contain the fire.”
The AFD said no one was reportedly hurt, the building was vacant, and there were no risks of “exposure” around the structure. Firefighters did not enter the building on Wednesday night, deeming it too risky.
AFD spokesperson Lt. Joel Price declined to answer questions on Thursday afternoon about how the department could know that no one was hurt – unhoused people are known to live in encampments near the building – and how they could be sure there was no risk of toxic chemical exposure.
Akron’s Fire Fighters Association Local 330 – the firefighters union – thanked the “Red Cross, who assisted with canteen services and the City of Akron Water Department who was quick to the scene to reroute more water to this incident.”
The building was formerly occupied by Ace Rubber Co. in Akron’s Cascade Valley neighborhood north of downtown. Ace produced rubber products there as recently as 2016, the Beacon Journal reported. According to Summit County Auditor’s records, the building is currently owned by Ace Restoration Group LLC, located at 43 E. Market St.