Stray spark ignites cooling oil, causes explosion and fire in Berlin commercial building

An explosion resulted in a fire Tuesday at a commercial building in Berlin, according to the Berlin fire chief.

Crews were dispatched to Precision Punch and Tooling for the reported explosion at 11:24 a.m., where they found moderate to heavy smoke inside the area of the facility. Employees at the time were in the process of evacuating.

The fire chief said the fire occurred during a grinding process, where a stray spark ignited cooling oil, which entered a portion of the ventilation system.

Employees initially fought the fire with extinguishers, which helped keep the fire under control, the fire department said. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the remaining fire.

One employee was evaluated for a minor laceration, while several other employees were evaluated for smoke inhalation.No one was hospitalized for their injuries.

WTNH-TV ABC 8 New Haven