NORTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Rebecca Krempa watched in stunned silence late Monday morning as the workplace she has called home for the past seven years was gone.
“I just can’t believe it,” said Krempa, chief operations officer for Doctor Diesel, a truck and trailer repair company hit by a colossal fire after midnight Monday.
"It was a fireball."Rebecca Krempa, chief operations officer, Doctor Diesel
“I got a call around 1 a.m. that the shop was on fire," she said. "And I’m like, ‘What? It’s on fire?’ I drove here from home — I live in Lower Macungie — and couldn’t believe what I saw.
"It was a fireball.”
The entire complex was destroyed.
'A lot of potential theories'
North Whitehall Township Fire Marshal Donald Jacobs was on site at 4822 Kernsville Road on Monday as firefighters sprayed the charred rubble with a mix of water and foam.
No cause for the blaze was immediately known, no injuries were reported and an investigation is underway, Jacobs said.
“We’re not sure what caused it. We’re still trying to figure it out.”Doctor Diesel owner John Tluczek
More than 70 firefighters from fire departments in Lehigh, Northampton, Berks and Carbon counties responded after the first call came in about 1:15 a.m.
The fire took several hours to put out, Jacobs said.
“We have a lot of potential theories as to what started the fire,” Jacobs said. “We’re trying to challenge each one and see which holds up and which falls apart.
“It was just after one in the morning when we got here and [the fire] was already rolling through the roof. It had ample time to progress on its own before we got here.”
Doctor Diesel owner John Tluczek surveyed the destroyed facility before 11 a.m. Monday.
“We’re not sure what caused it,” Tluczek said. “We’re still trying to figure it out.”
