Fire Destroys Philadelphia Business Park

Officials began seeking state and federal help Wednesday for companies ravaged by a fire at a suburban industrial park.

Water runoff was being monitored from the gutted former textile factory along the Schuylkill River, which provides water for about 1.5 million Philadelphians.

The water supply did not appear to be affected, although workers spent much of Wednesday removing oil from the river’s surface.

Hundreds of firefighters responded to the wind-whipped blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon at the Continental Business Center in Bridgeport, about 15 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

The blaze burned for 15 hours at the 500,000-square-foot complex, leaving only concrete walls and smoking rubble.

No serious injuries were reported, but the residents of about 50 homes were evacuated Tuesday night. The cause of the blaze was not immediately determined.

The fire was “probably one of the largest . . . the state’s seen in at least a decade,” said Marko Bourne, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

Only six of the complex’s 55 businesses--which represent about half of the businesses in the community--have enough salvageable floor space to keep operating, said Al Pascal of the local chamber of commerce.

Officials were considering asking Gov. Thomas J. Ridge to declare a disaster, which could lead to low-interest federal loans. Many of the businesses already have federal loans because of flood damage from Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

“I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Bridgeport Mayor Tom Novitski said Wednesday.