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Workers To Report Monday At Clearwater Plant That Burned

News Channel 8 photo by INDIRA LEVINE

Employees of Aerosonic Corp. and law enforcement officers arrive at the factory to assess the fire damage on Sunday.

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TBO.com

Published: August 10, 2008

A company that makes airplane parts, scene of a chemical-fed fire Friday night, will open on Monday and all employees have been told to report to work.

A recording on the phone line for Aerosonic Corp. in Clearwater said workers should report for an 8 a.m. meeting about the firm's near future.

Customers will be contacted through their normal sales channels, the recording said.

Meanwhile, investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have started their probe of the fire, which took 75 firefighters more than three hours to extinguish.

The fire at 1212 N. Hercules Ave. in a Clearwater industrial area was "suspicious," city spokeswoman Elizabeth Daly-Watts said Saturday.

Determining the cause could take days because of the fire's intensity and size of the 40,000-square-foot structure, Daly-Watts said.

Chemical explosions punctuated the blaze, quickly spreading flames and forcing firefighters to evacuate the building and fight the fire from outside. No one was in the building when the fire started.

The Pinellas County Hazmat Team was also summoned to monitor the air and treat any firefighters who might have been exposed to chemicals, though none required treatment.

The building is one of several the company has in the industrial area and was used for assembly. The firm's other buildings were not damaged.

Aerosonics makes precision instruments and equipment for commercial and military aircraft, such as cockpit displays and sensors.

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