(KAIR)--Atchison firefighters were kept busy Friday, making several responses to 2604 Industrial Road, the location of Progressive Rail Services, formerly known as Amsted RPS and Unit Rail Anchor. 

Interim Atchison Fire Chief Ted Graf says the first call came in during the midnight hour, sending crews to the scene. “On arrival, flames were visible, coming from the venting system connected to the equipment inside. At that point in time, for tactical purposes, it was decided to set up the ladder truck and use the ladder to access that top point of the venting system, a few stories off the ground, at the top of that. That's actually where the fire was coming from. As it turned out, there was a fire inside the duct work, the ventilation system for all the processing equipment that is located within the facility.” 

Graf says crews went to work, strategically sawing into enclosed locations to extinguish the fire while launching suppression efforts inside the building. 

Graf says that was successful and it's believed the cause of the fire has been determined. “It was determined at that time that electrical failure had caused the stoppage of the ventilating airflow throughout the system so the heat that was built in the vapors, the oil vapors coming off their processing equipment, was just getting up into the duct work and not being properly exhausted out. [That] subsequently ignited oil vapor buildup that occurs on the inside of the duct work system itself.” 

Since the initial response, flare-ups have proven to be problematic, with firefighters again called to the location shortly after 4:00 Friday morning. “When they got out there, they found some fire and smoke coming from a separate part of the duct system that they do not believe there was any issues with on the prior response. They extinguished the flare ups in that duct system, and it also at that time had extended into their filtration system outside of the facility [and] they [firefighters] encountered some fire in there.” 

Efforts of suppression again appeared successful, but fire crews were called back to the site shortly before 10:00 in the morning. 

Graf says since October, the Atchison Fire Department has responded to five fires at the location, and it's believed that all but one is related to the malfunction system. Graf says good news comes from the company, which says they plan to replace it with a newer, more efficient system which will likely alleviate the combustion issue.