A mid-afternoon fire Friday in a testing chamber in the one-story industrial building at Alion Science and Technology Corp.’s R&B Laboratory was brought under control by six fire companies within 40 minutes.The fire at the West Conshohocken, Pa., independent test facility, which provides EMC consulting and testing to government and industry customers, was called in through a fire alarm to the West Conshohocken police at 2:50 p.m. Friday.The company, which employs five workers, tests electronic equipment in nine shielded rooms, each equipped with multiple power capabilities with automated data acquisition as well as a reverberation chamber and full-threat lightning Marx generator. The chambers measure 16 feet by 20 feet by 10 feet. There were no injuries reported, said West Conshohocken Ptl. Andrew Carlin. Although there was an initial report of an explosion, Carlin said that air pressure from the fire inside the test chamber may have vented out of the chamber that was on fire. The fire caused smoke and water damage to the building. Firefighters cut a hole in the building roof to ventilate the building. Alion Science and Technology Corp.’s worldwide company is headquartered in McClean, Vir. Alion was formed in December 2002 when about 1600 employees of the IIT Research Institute (IITRI), founded in 1936, purchased substantially all of the assets of IITRI creating a 100% ESOP-owned company.Learn more from the Times Herald.
Fire Strikes Pennsylvania EMC Testing Laboratory
