As coal refuse burns under the Pittsburgh Glass Works plant in East Deer, the company has launched a community website to keep workers and the public up to date on the underground fire.

The underground fire has not been extinguished as the automotive glass factory works on solutions.

The plant is slated to close June 30.

The 135-year-old industrial site opened as Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.'s original glass plant, Works No. 1.

PGW detected and investigated an odd odor in September and determined there was a fire burning under the plant . The company called in the state Department of Environmental Protection to investigate further.

The United Steelworkers union president for the 160 workers at the Creighton plant said he was satisfied with safety at the site so far and the company's daily monitoring of the fire.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), “has been in there twice in the last four months and did air samples that show everything is below national thresholds,” said Kent Crytzer.

Besides carbon monoxide, other combustion by-products — including hydrogen sulfide and flammable gas — have been detected, according to Scott Henry, PGW spokesman.

The company has been venting the plant and continuously monitoring the air, he said.

PGW continues to work with government agencies and an engineering firm to fix the problem, according to Henry.

However plans to extinguish the fire have not yet been made public.

PGW hired a design and engineering firm to provide subsurface imaging and other studies to identify the source and to ensure the safety of the facility, according to Henry.

The new PGW website on the underground fire addresses a number of issues including:

• There is no indication that the hot spots are affecting any areas other than a small zone in and around the Creighton facility.

• Indoor air quality within the facility is below workplace thresholds, and there has been no indication of any risks outside the facility.

• PGW is taking daily air samples and monitoring the temperature of the plant floor in the affected areas of the facility. The results of the air monitoring to date have revealed that the exposures to known combustion by-products are below the limits established by OSHA and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygiene (ACGIH).

• PGW is not monitoring the air outside of the plant because contaminants of indoor air levels are below OSHA and over thresholds.

The company is addressing “localized hot spots” on the plant's concrete floor, according to Henry.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-226-4691, mthomas@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MaThomas_Trib.

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