BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HARRISON -- Flames tore through a warehouse at GeoGraph Industries Inc. Thursday afternoon, causing an estimated $750,000 in damage but no injuries.
The alarm sounded at 1:30 p.m., and fire crews were on the scene a few minutes later, said company Treasurer G. Mike Freudiger. But the trade show displays, carpet, signs and other materials stored inside the 5,000-square-foot warehouse at 475 Industrial Drive were destroyed.
"It's disappointing, but we'll live through it," Mr. Freudiger said. "It didn't hinder our manufacturing capability at all."
GeoGraph Industries produces signs, including some on display at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, and is working on exhibits for the new Cincinnati Children's Museum. None of those materials was involved in the blaze.
Firefighters and paramedics from Harrison, as well as Crosby, Whitewater, Green and Colerain townships, were on the scene. A few firefighters suffered heat exhaustion and one received intravenous fluids, but no serious injuries occurred, Harrison Fire Chief Alan Kinnett said.
Crews worked 2 1/2 hours to get the blaze under control and remained on the scene fighting smoldering flames for another hour. Their biggest challenge, Chief Kinnett said, is that the highly flammable materials were enclosed in a steel building.
"We had to literally tear that wall down to get at the fire," he said.
The fire was apparently sparked by a welding tool from a crew that was working to attach a 15,000-square-foot addition to the existing warehouse, Chief Kinnett said. The company office and production facility were untouched by smoke or flames.
