Bethlehem fire and EMS personnel responded to a fire at 1150 Mauch Chunk Road early the morning of March 24.

Responders were already working at the site of Monocacy Fabrication when employees began to arrive for work at 4 a.m. Fire Chief Bob Novatnack said in a call the next day. He said the metal fabrication business has 17 employees, none of whom were physically harmed.

A blaze was seen and neighbors of reported the smell of burning plastic, causing the spread of rumors as far as the east side of Allentown by the time the fire was under control about four hours later. Novatnack said precautions were taken by asking people to stay indoors during the fire, but Northampton County personnel were on-hand making chemical reading each half-hour and nothing dangerous was detected.

"It's like any fire; there's always toxic gas, even from a campfire," Novatnack said, but the standard 20.8 percent oxygen level never changed.

Novatnack said the call came in during a shift change and so firefighters from two shifts responded to the fire, as did personnel from Northampton and Lehigh counties, the Department of Environmental Protection and Fish Commission. A ladder truck and crew came from Allentown to assist because of the buildings 200-plus-yard length.

Novatnack said more than 60 EMS workers and specialists were on-scene, and there were no injuries in extinguishing the fire. As of Friday police and fire marshals were investigating the cause.