By Patrick Cooley
GROVE CITY — Grove City Fire Chief Jeff Badger said Sunday that a malfunctioning fan may have caused the fire that burned down the historic Wendell August Forge in Grove City on Saturday afternoon.
The fire started in the spray room, where the products the forge makes are lacquered. Badger said a damage estimate to the 25,000-square-foot landmark was not available over the weekend, but forge president Will Knecht told reporters it could be in the millions.
He said they plan to rebuild the forge as soon as possible, and the stores that sell its goods throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio will remain open.
The fire marshal is no longer investigating, Badger said, and the fire does not appear to have been suspicious.
There were 25 employees and 15 customers in the store when it started burning; all of them made it out unharmed. There were more than 100 firefighters battling the blaze, Badger said.
Ed Hodge, a Wendell August craftsman, said all of the equipment from the forge was destroyed. However, Grove City borough councilman and conservative blogger Rich Talbert wrote on his blog that many of the dies used to engrave pieces metal were saved.
�The dies are hardened-steel designs,� he said Sunday. �They would press or hammer that on to the plates or the platter, and that design would be engraved into the steel.�
Talbert explained losing the forge is tragic for the community.
�When one thinks of Grove City, several things come to mind,� he said. �Grove City College, the outlet mall (Prime Outlets at Grove City), and Wendell August Forge. People truly look at that as the treasure of the city; it�s something community members have grown to love and appreciate.�
Talbert said that people come from all over the world to visit the forge, and said he hopes the company will move aggressively to have it rebuilt by the Christmas season.
Chris Bulfone, a Wendell August employee, said Sunday that the company was going to give them some idea of how it would proceed this morning.
He said that he worked at the forge for more than 20 years personalizing pieces after they�d been made.
�I know a lot of people whose grandparents were there and bought things,� Bulfone said. �It�s on the end of a dead end street, but everybody in Grove City knows where it is.�
He said the company has some equipment at its plant in Bessemer in Lawrence County.
There were dozens of posts on the company�s Facebook page lamenting the loss of the forge.
�Some of my most enjoyable memories are from when I worked at the forge,� Dorrin Mace of Mercer posted. �I am very saddened to see this happen.�
Randy Riddle, the mayor of Grove City, called the fire �an economical hit to the area.� He said that his thoughts went out to those affected.
The history of the forge runs deep. It was established in 1926, and was moved to Grove City in 1932. Four years later, the forge made aluminum ashtrays for passengers on the �Millionaire�s Flight� of the Hindenburg, which featured a movable glass replica of the airship filled with kerosene. The infamous crash of the hydrogen-filled blimp in Lakehurst, N.J., which killed 37 people happened a year later.
Other items the forge has produced include a dozen bronze plates to commemorate the SALT II weapons treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, towel basins shaped like turtles for a pool at one of the Rockefeller homes and custom pieces for companies like Coca-Cola, Hershey, Walt Disney, Pizza Hut, MetLife and Walmart.
Area people came out in droves to watch the building burn on Saturday and again to see the smoldering remains Sunday. Many of them said it was a landmark they had grown up with in their neighborhood.
Sarah Brandon, who lives on the same block of Madison Avenue as the forge, said she had visited the forge often as a little girl.
�Late at night you could hear them pounding,� she said. �A lot of people in Grove City worked there.�
The Associated Press contributed to this story.<
