Officials say air and water now reported safe after SPS Technologies fire; residents press for more testing and greater transparency

Jenkintown — Local officials, first responders and SPS Technologies told residents at a packed public forum Tuesday that air and water monitoring conducted since last week’s SPS Technologies plant fire have shown readings within the benchmarks set by responding agencies, but residents pressed repeatedly for more testing detail and clearer transparency about debris and surface sampling.

Dr. Tagus, introduced by the board as the district’s superintendent, opened the hour-long forum by thanking staff, students and first responders and saying the district had sought additional information from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "We have been told that the air quality is clear and fine to breathe both inside our schools and outside in the community," Dr. Tagus said, adding that she asked for third‑party air monitoring as an added level of assurance and that she had raised concerns with elected officials.

Police Chief Scott, who led the borough’s incident command, gave a timeline of the response: the explosion and fire were reported Monday night at about 9:45 p.m.; search crews accounted for about 60 people who were in the facility; interior firefighting was halted when conditions became unsafe and command shifted to exterior master-stream operations; hazmat teams began continuous air monitoring that ran for roughly 30 hours, and a shelter‑in‑place order was issued for roughly a half‑mile radius then extended to one mile before being lifted.

"We consistently were getting the same readings from all the hazmat suits as they were coming out and testing the air in the community," Chief Scott said, reporting that hand‑held meters inside the school produced what he described as "0 readings" in all rooms before the district sought a second clearance and reopened schools with additional cleaning and filter replacement.

Fire Chief Ken Lynch described structural challenges at the SPS site that have complicated internal access, including partial roof collapse and continued hot spots. "We were presented with incredibly challenging conditions," Lynch said, adding that crews prioritized life safety and containment of the equipment and chemical storage areas.

Dan Gere, vice president and general manager at SPS Technologies, identified himself and told residents the company had provided air and water sampling data nightly to EPA and DEP, deployed an environmental contractor to collect debris and said all tested debris to date has not indicated an impact to public health. "We will send somebody out to make sure that we collect that debris," Gere said, pointing residents to a company hotline and a website, spsupdates.com, for reporting debris.

Despite those assurances, parents at the forum repeatedly asked for specifics: which chemicals were on site and which had burned; how many debris samples had been collected and tested; detailed locations and sampling frequency for the 14 monitoring points the company and agencies had placed across Jenkintown and neighboring communities; and why custodial staff — rather than an outside professional cleaning crew — conducted surface cleaning prior to some re‑entry.

One resident, Galveston Reed, said: "You should be testing thousands based on the size of that explosion and plume," and explicitly asked why parents and the school community had not received a precise count of samples or a firm schedule for results. Officials responded that EPA and DEP set analytes and testing protocols for the incident and that some sample analyses are ongoing while the investigation continues; they also said the company is required to publish Tier I chemical reports annually and that the plant was in compliance with those reporting obligations.

Officials described a multi‑county cleanup operation and said environmental contractors are prioritizing critical infrastructure, school grounds, preschools and evacuation‑area residences, and that crews will continue door‑to‑door and prioritized collection until the immediate debris backlog is cleared.

On school operations, district and facilities staff reported that unit‑ventilator filters and school air‑purifier filters were replaced Thursday afternoon/evening, air handlers were serviced by a vendor and were back online by midday, and that EPA/DEP guidance and hand‑held monitor clearances guided the decision to re‑open. The district also offered families a short period of remote instruction and provided an option for indoor or outdoor recess for the remainder of the week so families could choose what they considered safest.

What remains unresolved in the forum record is a definitive, publicly released, itemized list of what specifically burned and a publicly posted, easily accessible count of the number of debris samples collected and the analytic results. Officials said the structural investigation at the plant and agency reviews will take time and that some answers will arrive only after engineers can access unstable parts of the facility.

Next steps: officials said SPS will continue nightly data feeds to EPA/DEP, environmental contractors will continue cleanup and selective sampling, and the joint information center and township website will be updated with testing results and instructions for residents who find debris on their property. The board moved from the forum directly into its regular business meeting following the hour of public comment.

(Reporting note: quotes and attributions are taken from public remarks during the forum; officials identified agencies overseeing sampling as EPA and DEP and the company representative identified himself as Dan Gere, vice president/general manager of SPS Technologies.)