Photo courtesy of Morris Bean & Company
Miami Township Fire-Rescue battles blaze at Morris Bean
- Published: April 28, 2026
A potentially dangerous industrial fire at Morris Bean involving burning magnesium metal was quickly contained by Miami Township Fire-Rescue and other area fire and rescue agencies early last week.
Via email, Fire-Rescue Chief James Cannell said crews were dispatched shortly after 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 15, to the Hyde Road facility. When first responders arrived, “smoke was visible from the roof, and employees were actively evacuating the building,” Cannell said. Morris Bean personnel directed firefighters to the rear of the building, where they reported that multiple fire extinguishers had failed to stop the blaze.
Cannell said the fire involved magnesium metal burning on an upper-level mezzanine and had spread to the underside of the roof. He added that the blaze was caused by “an abnormal chemical reaction within an industrial furnace designed to break down aluminum and magnesium.”
Township firefighters pulled a hose from their engine and advanced it about 50 feet into the building from the loading dock, then saturated the burning material with water.
“The primary concern was the potential extension of fire into the roof material, which would have been challenging to control,” Cannell said.
Mutual-aid crews from Xenia Township, Xenia, Fairborn, Cedarville, Spring Valley and Hustead also responded. Additional tankers from Pitchin-Green Township and Bethel Township in Clark County were later canceled after the fire was brought under control.
“Thanks to the rapid response and coordinated tactics of MTFR and our mutual aid partners, a volatile fire was contained before it could cause significant damage to one of our industrial complexes,” Cannell said, adding thanks to Community Paramedic Steffinie Brewer for her “flexibility on the medical call, which enabled [the] engine to respond to the fire,” and to firefighter/EMTs Cassady and Casey Brewer for “coming in off-duty to assist with the fire response.”
See next week’s issue for a report on the most recent Township Trustees meeting, which was held Monday, April 20.
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