Pasco Firefighters Battle 2-Alarm Industrial Blaze In Dade City

DADE CITY, FL -- About 30 fire units from Pasco and surrounding counties spent most of Friday into Saturday morning fighting a two-alarm fire at Bon Metals in the Dade City Business Center, 15222 Citrus Country Drive in Dade City.

Firefighters were called to the scene at 12:26 p.m. Jan. 18 and were finally able to get the blaze under control at 6:45 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, 18 hours later.

Burning metals produced plumes of heavy smoke. And explosions could be heard as water from the ladder trucks reacted with magnesium inside one of the businesses.

Firefighters from Pasco County , Zephyrhills, Plant City and Hernando County worked to put out the blaze, which spread to multiple businesses in the business park.

According to Pasco County Fire Rescue, the fire erupted while an employee was welding. During preventative maintenance, employees were in the process of extending an exhaust duct to an industrial rotary furnace when sparks from the welder ignited combustibles in the area.

Employees made several attempts to extinguish the fire before calling 911 and evacuating the building.

The fire caused approximately $3 million in damage.

However, no injuries were reported.

Videos via Pasco County Fire Rescue

Division Chief Shawn Whited gives an update on the fire.

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