Glassing Shop Catches Fire With Workers Inside

It’s no secret that surfboard fibreglass factories are fire hazards, but that doesn’t make it any easier when tragedy strikes.

On Friday morning at approximately 11:30 am a fire broke out at Global Glassing Inc. in Oceanside, California, gutting the facility.

An employee at the factory was working with acetone when it “flashed.” Another worker attempted to put out the fire before suffering burns to his face. In true glass shop grit, he refused treatment from emergency personnel on scene and drove himself to a local hospital.

“Several entries were made to the affected area, and all of the chemicals were identified and secured,” Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence told Fox News. “A hazardous materials cleanup company will have to package the damaged containers and transport them to a waste facility.”

“It took crews from Oceanside and several neighbouring areas nearly an hour to gain the upper hand on the blaze, which destroyed the unit in which it originated and damaged two others – a second surfboard shop and a smog-testing business,” continued Lawrence.

Global Glassing has been in business for over 30 years and is responsible for putting hundreds of thousands of surfboards under people’s feet over the decades. The fire reportedly caused an estimated $500,000 in damages. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the company recover.

“I watched from across the street as my place of occupation burned to the ground in what seemed to be an instant,” wrote one of the shops employees, Arin Mckinney. “It’s a horrifying feeling to watch a fire of that magnitude burn beyond our control. Relieved to say that everybody made it out mostly unscathed from what I understand and fortunately I was not directly in harm’s way on this go around.”