A blaze first reported as a dwelling fire in the eastern portion of the Salisbury Township, shortly after 11 p.m. Feb.12, turned out to be a structure fire at the intersection of Public Road and Jeter Avenue that went to three alarms as it destroyed a family-owned business, National Automated Solutions.

Eastern Salisbury Fire Department and Fountain Hill Fire Department's aerial ladder truck were first to locate the fire, which already had a head start.

Eastern Salisbury Fire Department Fire Chief David Tomcics, command officer at the scene, quickly called for a second and then a third alarm, bringing fire units from Western Salisbury Fire Department, Se-Wy-Co Fire Department in Northampton County, Emmaus Fire Department and Upper Saucon Fire Department.

Emmaus firefighters served as a rapid intervention team, standing by to rescue any firefighters who might get into trouble.

South Whitehall's air cascade unit from Woodlawn Fire Department refilled air canisters for the firefighters and EMS teams from Macungie Ambulance and St. Luke's University Health Network provided rehabilitation services for the firefighters and checked their vital signs.

Eastern Salisbury and Fountain Hill fire police controlled traffic in the area.

The firefighters fought the blaze in frigid temperatures and worked amid the hazard of water from hoses flash freezing to ice.

A Salisbury Township public works crew brought a salt truck to put down ice melting material on the slick road surface at the scene.

A front-end loader was called to load frozen hoses on trucks for transport back to Eastern Salisbury and Fountain Hill fire stations where the hoses could thaw and be rolled up and put back on fire engines.

A mobile canteen from Goodwill fire services, in Montgomery County, came to the scene to provide hot beverages and food to the firefighters, many of whom were at the scene well into the early morning Feb. 13.

Eastern Salisbury firefighters returned to the scene about 6 a.m. to deal with fire flare-ups resulting when heavy equipment knocked down walls of the structure for safety reasons.

Reports said the business was owned by Douglas Palenchar, who said the work floor, office, warehouse and inventory of the business were a "total loss."

The business employed four employees and produced automated security gates and other security products.