Hall China Back in Business After Fire

On July 20, at approximately 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, a fire began in the mid-section of Hall China’s East Liverpool plant in one of the three ware dryers used for reducing moisture content. The afternoon maintenance man who was on duty at the time, Brian Cronin, immediately notified the East Liverpool Fire Department as he circled the interior of the company’s plant, first ensuring that all employees were accounted for and evacuated, prior to leaving the building himself. The fire department quickly put out the blaze, but the affected dryer was destroyed.

When asked why he decided to stay, Cronin said, “There were a lot of new people here, and I didn’t know if they knew how to get out. I just felt like it was my job to make sure that everyone got out okay.” While no other employees were injured in the fire, Cronin was treated for minor smoke inhalation and was later released from East Liverpool City Hospital.

No structural damage occurred from the fire, and all employees returned to work the next morning, helping to clean any damage from the firefighting efforts, and to repack boxes that may have gotten wet.

Jim Waddle, production supervisor for Hall China, said, “While we did lose one dryer in the fire, because our dryers are computerized, the remaining dryers can be easily reprogrammed to fill the production void caused by the lost dryer.”

Liz McIlvain, president of HLC Inc., parent company to Hall China, said, “We are extremely thankful to the East Liverpool Fire Department for their incredibly fast response, as well as to all the employees who are back at the factory this morning helping clean up and make sure that we continue to maintain our production schedule and ship orders. However, we offer a special thanks to afternoon maintenance-man Brian Cronin for the selfless way that he not only reported the fire, but ensured that employees got out safely.”