LORAIN — Firefighters from six departments battled a fire at the Ohio Edison plant on Lorain’s lakefront Wednesday afternoon.

The fire broke out shortly after 5 p.m. at the plant near Oberlin and West Erie avenues. Crowds gathered as the initial thick black smoke billowed.

Lorain Assistant Fire Chief Roy Cochran said that the fire started on the lakefront ground floor of the largely unused facility, but extended up an old conveyer belt.

Coal was stored on the ground floor, then sent up the conveyer belt to go to the boil­ers that generated the electric­ity, Cochran said.

The fire did not occur in an area where power was cur­rently generated. The cause of the fire is believed to be asbestos removal being done at the facility, Cochran said. A spark may have fallen to the ground floor, smoldered and ignited after the workers had left, he said.

Fire trucks from Lorain, Carlisle Township, South Amherst, Amherst and Eaton Township were there.

Elyria’s aerial truck was used because Lorain’s was out of commission after losing two wheels on a run Tuesday night. Several of the out-of-town trucks were tanker trucks — the county’s water shuttle team — bringing water to the lakefront side of the plant where the fire was, as there were no working hydrants near the fire.

The fire appeared to be under control in 45 minutes, although firefighters were on the scene for about two and a half hours.

Andy Shullick of Lorain was riding his bike home on West 20th Street. About four blocks from West Erie Avenue, he saw some white smoke. He started seeing black smoke when he reached Lakeview Avenue.

“I smelled wood and thought maybe they were burning something out back,” Shullick said. “Then I saw the back of the building.”

Representatives from FirstEnergy, which owns Ohio Edison, did not return calls for comment.

Did you get a photo of the fire? Upload it to The Chronicle’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/chronicletelegram or e-mail to rproudfoot@chroniclet.com, and we’ll post it to our reader photo gallery below.

Contact Melissa Hebert at 329-7129 or mhebert@chroniclet.com.

Chronicle reader photos:

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---