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Everyone within 20 miles of West Easton looking in our direction after 5 a.m. yesterday morning could see we had an inferno blazing for much of the day.

An explosion at the warehouse complex shortly after 5:00 a.m. woke many residents closest to  the area.

According to West Easton Fire Chief William Bogari Jr., the initial call of a commercial building fire was made at 5:00 to the 911 Center by an employee of Anthem Propane, who saw the smoke and flames at the nearby warehouse.

I actually slept through the first minutes of it, awakened only by the sound of my cell phone continually chiming with multiple text messages being received. There was a fire at the former Johnston’s Trucking location and it was a big one.

I dressed and went outside. A few of my neighbors were already out and looking toward the direction of the river. The skyline at the edge of town was a bright orange, with a large black plume of smoke rising up above it, also lit with an orange glow.

Driving down to East Street to get a better idea of how bad it might be, I found many people lining the roadway, looking down into the roaring flames from a safe distance. It was like looking into Hell.

Though, as terrible as it was, I think we had some luck in it not being worse.

Only a couple of days before we had wind gusts of 40 mph. Winds that could have easily spread the fire up the hillside toward residences. Yesterday morning saw barely a breeze.

The fire also didn’t occur during a drought condition when the surrounding wooded areas would have been ready kindling.

Most of all, the fire didn’t reach the propane storage facility area of Anthem Propane, where at least one large above-ground tank is located.

Thankfully, no fatalities or injuries have been reported. All of the workers from the multiple businesses at the complex have been accounted for, and all firefighters came through unscathed.

Speaking of fire fighters and first responders – What an amazing effort! The response time of the first responding unit to the scene was reportedly only 9 minutes.

More than 20 units of firefighting equipment from 3 counties in Pennsylvania responded. Phillipsburg, New Jersey, answered the 4-alarm blaze, as well. Most are volunteers. Even with all the manpower and equipment it was more than 5 hours before the fire was declared under control.

Time was needed to set up water access and evaluate safe approaches due to the area and site configuration.

Thanks to all first responders for a great job well done! I’m told there have been volunteers on the scene overnight to monitor for possible flare-ups and today will be spent digging out and dousing hot spots.

Also, deserving thanks, is Weis Markets, WaWa, and George’s Pizza. Staff from Weis dropped off 3 carloads of snacks, water, and Gatoraid to firefighters. WaWa contributed supplies to the responders. George’s Pizza delivered food.

As for West Easton residents, those who lost power and had previously opted in to our Emergency Text Alert System, they received updates as facts were confirmed. One early text included an advisory to drink and cook with bottled water when tap water reportedly turned color due to low water pressure caused by firefighting efforts.

That text advisory was later rescinded when air and water sampling determined both were safe.

For those who still had power, our Facebook page provided updates.

Met-Ed cut service to parts of West Easton, Wilson, and Easton to protect firefighters from electrical lines at the storage facility. Generators could be heard around West Easton during the morning, but by early afternoon most returned to storage after the fire was under control and Met-Ed restored power.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, led by Pennsylvania State Police.

Fire Chief Bogari’s update given to reporters yesterday afternoon can be viewed below.