Fire at Department of Defense Testing Facility in Belcamp Injures Two

Two employees of a Belcamp facility testing munitions for the Department of Defense were taken to a local hospital with eye injuries following an accidental fire Monday morning.

The fire broke out in a lab at Chesapeake Testing, located in the 4600 block of Compass Point Road in Belcamp shortly before 9 a.m. Monday morning. According to a statement from the Office of the State Fire Marshal, a test round became lodged in a rubberized back stop, igniting a wooden structure surrounding it. A sprinkler head was located in the ceiling void above but was blocked by the back stop, hindering extinguishment of the fire.

A total of 40 firefighters from the Abingdon, Joppa-Magnolia, Bel Air, Aberdeen, and Susquehanna fire companies brought the blaze under control in about 40 minutes. Smoke, fire and water damage to the lab and the building was estimated at $20,000, with damages to its contents estimated at $5,000, according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

The two employees sustained eye injuries and were transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center for evaluation; the cause of their injuries was not immediately clear.