No Injuries From Three-Alarm Fire At Harrisonburg, Virginia PCA Facility


VIRGINIA (From news reports) -- No workers or emergency responders were injured in a machine fire that grew to a three-alarm blaze at the Packaging Corporation of America facility in Harrisonburg late Tuesday night, Nov. 30, according to Michael Parks, city spokesman.

Emergency crews first received a call for the machine fire at 9 p.m.

The fire "spread through the building and involved three rail cars on the back end of the building," Parks said at the scene on Pleasant Valley Road on the south side of the city, bordering Rockingham County.

At one point, flames went through the roof of the facility, according to Parks.

He said an estimate of the damage will likely be available this morning.


The building is valued at $10.4 million, according to Harrisonburg real estate documents.

There were workers in the building at the time, and they all evacuated safely, according to Parks. He did not have a figure for how many workers were on shift at the time. PCA is a large employer for the city.

Plant workers declined to comment at the scene.

Before 11 p.m., the fire had been contained in a smaller portion of the building on the southeast side, and the blaze was completely out before 11:15 p.m., according to Parks.

Emergency personnel from Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Weyers Cave and McGaheysville responded to the scene.

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