Crime & Safety

Auto Workers Evacuate Automotive Components after Plant Fire

According to Plymouth Township Police, no one was hurt in the incident.

No was hurt in a fire late Friday afternoon at Automotive Components, a Plymouth factory that produces heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units for Ford vehicles.

According to Plymouth Township Police, the call for the fire came in around 4:30 p.m., a half-hour into the afternoon shift.

The Plymouth Community Fire Department was the first to respond, with fire trucks from Canton Township and Livonia joining later.

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The fire was contained, and there was no smoke evident on the scene by 5:15 p.m.

Assembly line worker Julie Thompson of Westland said employees were evacuated to the parking lot calmly, and she said she never really felt in danger. Around 7 p.m., employees were told they could go home due to a lingering smoke smell in the building.

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"We were all working when the supervisors came around and said, 'You have to evacuate,' " said Thompson, who, like most other employees in the parking lot, is on the afternoon shift and had just started work at 4 p.m. "We weren't really given a reason, but when we got outside, we saw all the smoke."

Dawn Robertson, another assembly line worker, said she heard that the fire had started in the "regrind" room, which is where plastic parts are ground up and melted.

"People on our line panicked a little bit," Robertson said. "There wasn't an alarm, so we didn't really know what was happening."

But Thompson said employees were well-prepared for an emergency such as this fire.

"We have a lot of routine fire and tornado drills," Thompson said. "And our emergency response team is just amazing here. They were very quick to respond, and it makes me feel safe to know they're on the floor with us every day."


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