2 dead, at least 9 unaccounted for after explosion rocks Pennsylvania chocolate factory

[Wicked Blue]

Last edited Sat Mar 25, 2023, 06:56 PM - Edit history (3)

Source: NBC News

By Kurt Chirbas and Tim Stelloh

Two people are dead and at least nine are unaccounted for after an explosion rocked a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday, authorities said.

Between six and eight people were also taken for medical attention in the blast at R.M. Palmer Company in West Reading, 63 miles northwest of Philadelphia, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said.

A spokeswoman for Reading Hospital said eight people were brought to the facility. One was transferred, two were in fair condition and the others were released, said the spokeswoman, Jessica Belzer, of Tower Health.

The cause of the blast was unclear. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-dead-7-missing-explosion-rocks-pennsylvania-chocolate-factory-rcna76640

---

UPDATE from NBC
Updated March 25, 2023, 12:01 PM EDT

2 dead and 5 unaccounted for after explosion rocks Pennsylvania chocolate factory

Two people are confirmed dead after an explosion rocked a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania, officials said Saturday morning after initially saying that five people had been killed in the explosion.

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency had said in a tweet that Berks County had reported five deaths following a blast Friday at R.M. Palmer Company in West Reading, around 63 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

But Mayor Samantha Kaag said that number was inaccurate and two had been killed. Five others remain missing and one person was rescued overnight.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-dead-7-missing-explosion-rocks-pennsylvania-chocolate-factory-rcna76640

[dem4decades]

1. Terrible, chocolate is supposed to be fun, not deadly.

[Tanuki]

8. Yes, this loss of life would be tragic under any circumstance

but something about this feels especially sad, since the victims were involved in creating a product meant to bring smiles and happiness.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Gas leak suspected at RM Palmer, maker of holiday specialty candy.

[maxsolomon]

28. When the building is flat out gone, that's usually the cause.

One spark...

RIP Chocolate Makers. An honorable profession.

[ProfessorGAC]

29. Or Sugar Dust

To whit:
https://www.csb.gov/imperial-sugar-company-dust-explosion-and-fire/
I was on a technical review team of this to determine is the dust could reasonably account for this degree of damage. Every member of the team agreed it was, in fact the sugar dust.
Take a look at that aerial shot. There is literally a building missing.

[maxsolomon]

31. nuts if that was the cause.

thanks!

[ProfessorGAC]

32. It Definitely Was

The thermodynamics showed it was easily possible & highly probable.
Anything thing that has a high combustion velocity, finely divided, with copious oxygen can explode.
I worked with lots of dangerous chemicals over time & sugar wouldn't have been on my list. Until 2008!

[YoshidaYui]

3. I maybe wrong but the only Chocolate factory in PA i know of is

Hershey's... i know cause I toured there once!!

[cstanleytech]

4. Apparently there are a number of others

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chocolate_companies_based_in_Pennsylvania

[ZonkerHarris]

5. PA is the Silicon Valley of Snack Food. Candy, chips, pretzels. It's ground zero

partly because of Milton Hershey

[C Moon]

6. It says "R.M. Palmer Company"

[Captain Zero]

7. Geez...9 unaccounted for?

On top of dead and injured.

[YoshidaYui]

18. GOOD,

not Hersey's then.

[halfulglas]

9. Big season, making chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs before the summer slowdown.

Summer candy doesn't usually sell as much because of the heat and melting but candymakers big seasons are Easter, Christmas and Valentine's day. Working the machinery overtime as well as the employees.

[mopinko]

13. humidity is a killer, too.

long, long ago i worked in a koolaid factory. they’d have to shut down in august most years. and lost many days when there was a lot of rain.
sugar is a very interesting chemical.

[lapfog_1]

10. big natch of pop rocks crushed accidently?

[Better Days Ahoy]

11. Hershey's Chocolates outsources much of its products

To third party chocolate makers in PA and elsewhere.
The R.M. Palmer Co. could be one of them or make its own for sale under its own brands.
Hershey's factory in Hershey, PA, is a showplace but doesn't produce the lion's share of its branded products.

[halfulglas]

14. Palmer definitely markets under its own brand here in Maryland.

Bought especially for Easter baskets and Christmas candy for the kids, where the quantity mattered more than the quality. They specialize more in the molded hollow shapes than the more expensive brands, but the kids think they are adorable.

[LisaM]

19. We went to the Hershey factory when I was a kid.

I remember particularly that they told us it was the last year there would be real chocolate in the vats and that the next year they would have an artificial substitute.

[Better Days Ahoy]

22. Aww, shucks.

Surprised they told you that. I went to Hershey, PA, well into adulthood. Still loved it.
What is it about chocolate? 😁

[DownriverDem]

12. Wow.

The explosion leveled the building. Chocolate factories are pretty common in PA. My family moved to Reading from Bethlehem a long time ago. Then they moved to Michigan for better work in the 1930s. Visited Reading when I was a kid. How sad.

[The Jungle 1]

15. 5 dead at this point.

[Farmer-Rick]

16. It could be a sugar or cocoa dust explosion

Those dusts are very flammable and if proper safety procedures or ventilation are not functioning, it can lead to explosions.

There was a 2015 KY sugar dust fire "Northern Kentucky firefighters battled a large fire at the Perfetti Van Melle USA factory in Erlanger on Friday morning." https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/kenton-county/erlanger/fire-breaks-out-at-perfetti-van-melle-factory-in-erlanger

There are cocoa dust fires too. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/kenton-county/erlanger/fire-breaks-out-at-perfetti-van-melle-factory-in-erlanger

That was an Illinois 2018 chocolate cake mix fire started by a spark from a fan.

You don't think about how foods can be flammable but I suspect most any dust allowed to accumulate to excess levels could be flammable, except for maybe Asbestosis.

[jmowreader]

26. In the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest we averaged one to two grain elevator explosions per year

I think you're onto something: that factory looks a lot like an elevator after a dust explosion.

This is a video about a sugar dust explosion:

&t=355s

[ProfessorGAC]

30. See My Post #29

Sugar dust explosion. Killed 14 people.

[The Jungle 1]

17. Just so we are all on the same page and understand how chocolate is produced.

70% of coco comes from west Africa. There is a lot of human trafficking of child labor including child slavery
https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies
Palmer Co. is not on this list of ethical producers!

[LisaM]

20. Gas appliances scare me.

Last edited Sun Mar 26, 2023, 12:02 PM - Edit history (1)

I know people like cooking with gas stoves but I have never noticed a big enough difference to justify what I consider a danger.

Wasn't it in Pennsylvania where a few houses just blew up a few years ago?

[colorado_ufo]

21. I grew up with gas and will never have it again.

There have been many homes, businesses, and even whole city blocks leveled from gas explosions. There is always a small amount of gas in the air from pilot lights, etc. It is definitely unhealthy.

I always looked forward to Palmer Easter bunnies, because they used natural vanilla in their chocolate. I have a bad allergy to artificial vanilla and cannot eat anything with it. I think Hershey's has finally come around, but I have not eaten it for years because of what they put in their chocolate.

[tclambert]

23. The guys at the Peeps factory were looking awful satisfied.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. Sheesh, what an thoughtless post.

tclambert (10,967 posts)

23. The guys at the Peeps factory were looking awful satisfied.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

25. Death toll has risen to 7 in West Reading chocolate factory explosion; final missing believed found

NEWS

Death toll has risen to 7 in West Reading chocolate factory explosion; final missing believed to have been found

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

by Ximena Conde
Updated on Mar 26, 2023, 10:54 p.m. ET

WEST READING, Pa. — Almost 48 hours after an explosion at the R.M. Palmer chocolate factory in Berks County, all Frankie Gonzalez and his family could do on Sunday was pray.

Pray that his sister Diana Cedeno, one of the people still missing Sunday morning, was found in the wreckage. Pray that the families of those confirmed dead could find some solace. Pray for those who survived.

Congregants at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish at the edge of West Reading echoed Gonzalez’s prayers. ... “West Reading is a small town and everyone is wondering what they could do to help,” Natalie Parisi, 55, said after the service.

By Sunday night, the hope for survivors came to an end, the death toll having risen to seven. The final bodies pulled from the debris were believed to be unaccounted for workers, according to authorities.

{snip}

[Wicked Blue]

27. Oh hell, so many dead, so many injured

and everybody else jobless