Washington County pretzel factory catches fire, half of building destroyed

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CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A pretzel factory caught fire early Saturday morning in Washington County, and firefighters were only able to save about half of the building because of the intense blaze.

Crews were called to a fire at the Pretzels Inc. building on Swihart Road in Cecil Township shortly after 6 a.m. According to the company’s website, Pretzels Inc. produces mainly peanut butter and bulk pretzel products.

Paul Smith of the Cecil Township Volunteer Fire Company said the fire was particularly hard to fight because of what was inside the building.

"There's a lot of baked goods, a lot of cardboard that they package their materials in, and also cooking oils," he said. "So it (was) a stubborn fire."

About 30 people work at the pretzel factory, and some of those people will be out of work while the building is being repaired. There currently is no timeline for when repairs will start.

Nobody was injured in the fire. The incident is under investigation.