Crews responding to explosion, fire at Oakwood manufacturing plant

Crews responding to explosion, fire at Oakwood manufacturing plant:

OAKWOOD, Ohio — Several people were injured in an explosion and fire at an Oakwood manufacturing plant Monday afternoon, witnesses say.

Fire departments across Cuyahoga and Summit counties responded to I. Schumann & Co. to extinguish the fire at the metal and paint plant on Alexander Road.

The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com reached out for more information. The number of injured is unclear.

Joey Sarconi was on his lunch break across the street from the plant when he said he heard an explosion.

“It was like a bomb,” he said. “I ducked and covered inside my car. When I looked up, there was just a dark cloud of smoke and then an explosion.”

Sarconi, a Maple Heights resident, has worked at the business across the street from the plant for 20 years and said he is grateful to be alive.

Gravel and steel beams flew in the sky around the plant, he said.

“There are just rocks and steel everywhere,” he said. “This is not good.”

Robert Klamar was working at another business approximately half a mile away when the explosion occurred.

“It shook our whole building,” he said. “The tiles came down from the ceiling.”

Sarconi said after the explosion ambulances and fire trucks flooded the area. A Life Flight emergency helicopter also responded to the scene.