Afternoon fire damages electric service building By Heather Millican Staff Writer

A transformer manufacturer on Pulliam Street sustained damage Saturday when a two-alarm fire ignited in the facility’s oven.

Firefighters were dispatched to San Angelo Electric Service (SESCO) at 926 Pulliam St. around 4:30 p.m. Saturday and had the blaze under control within 30 minutes, Fire Battalion Chief Andy Cole said.

No one was injured in the blaze, and Cole said the building had about $10,000 worth of damage. There was no structural damage incurred from the fire.

The blaze was contained to the oven – about 12 feet by 16 feet – and a six feet by six feet flue, which Cole compared to a big chimney.

“It was like a chimney fire, only big,” Cole said.

He said when transformers are built, all units are put in an oven – which heats up to 450 degrees – to dry.

“Something got a little too hot and started a fire,” Cole said.

The fire department was concerned about bystanders and rubberneckers, because smoke coming from the building was of burnt plastic.

“Certain types of plastic are pretty toxic, but any type of plastic is not good to breathe,” Cole said.

Firefighters remained on the scene for about two hours after the fire started.

Cole said it is not uncommon for firefighters to be called out to facilities that deal regularly with large amounts of heat and volatile substances or chemicals.

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-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), December 10, 2000