UPDATE: New Paris Fire Chief Joe Warstler has reported the Indiana State Fire Marshall’s office, insurance adjusters and electrical contractors are returning to the remains of Better Way Products, Plant 2, in New Paris. The investigators are attempting to find the cause of Thursday morning’s fire.

The initial call was at 1:44 a.m. There were no employees in the building at that time. Fire officials have been told a superintendent had locked the building at 1 a.m.

Warstler stated when firefighters arrived at the scene heavy fire had broken through the front doors and smoke was seen billowing from the back of the facility.

Ladder trucks from Nappanee and Goshen fire departments were called in to assist in fighting the blaze from above as no entry into the building was possible.

Firefighters and equipment from up to 11 departments – New Paris, Milford, Leesburg, Syracuse, Goshen, Benton, Clinton, Harrison, Nappanee, Foraker and Wakarusa – arrived and battled the fire from all sides.

Warstler stated the roof never gave way. “The hardest part was getting to it (the fire),” he said. A payloader from Knepp Sand and Gravel, north of the scene, was brought in to knock down doors and side walls.

The manufacturing plant did contain a large resin tank on the north side, keeping firefighters away from that area. There was also acetone barrels inside the burning building. While the acetone barrels and resin tank never exploded, a pressurized water barrel did explode, bursting a hole in the siding.

Warstler noted no firefighters were injured.

The fire was marked as being under control at 6:39 a.m. Firefighters cleared the scene at 11:44 a.m.

Warstler commented his department was “lucky enough to get water shuttled to the scene.” Because the facility is in the country, no hydrants were available. Tankers from all departments responding shuttled water from an irrigation well, near the site; New Paris Elementary School and New Paris Fire Station.

Read the original Breaking News Release: Breaking: Fire at Better Way Products