ORLANDO, Fla. – Five people were injured and three were taken to a hospital Thursday morning after a fire broke out at L3Harris Aerojet Rocketdyne Coleman Aerospace in Orlando, officials said.
The fire broke out around 8:20 a.m. at 7675 Municipal Drive and was later knocked down by firefighters.
“(Firefighters) did a very good job, this could have been a very dangerous situation,” Orlando Fire Chief Charlie Salazar said. “We had to approach this very carefully, water would have created an issue. We used dry-powder extinguishers to put the fire out.”
The fire chief said five people were injured, with three of them were taken to the hospital “with various injuries.” Two of them were sent as trauma alert burn patients, the Orlando Fire Department said in a post on X.
Hazmat teams and arson/bomb squads responded to the fire, the chief said.
“In this case here, it was not a lithium-ion product, it was powder lithium on site for use in the business and it ignited due to an unknown cause. The fire is still under investigation, but it requires a very specific and disciplined procedure to extinguish the fire and control it,” said Walter Lewis, assistant fire chief.
Due to protocols at the building, the substance was contained in a room and the fire was limited to the room.
Later in the morning, L3Harris released a statement about the fire.
“(Thursday) morning there was a fire in a manufacturing area at our L3Harris Coleman Aerospace facility in Orlando. The fire has been extinguished. Employee safety is our top priority, and we are conducting a full investigation.”
No firefighters were injured.
No other details have been released.
The fire is out and because this was a Hazmat Fire crews are now going through decontamination. https://t.co/StUtmfB8wD pic.twitter.com/i966aWHOn5
— Orlando Fire Dept (@OrlandoFireDept) December 19, 2024