NEWBURGH — The industrial firm whose Newburgh plant was the site of a raging chemical fire Saturday describes itself in marketing materials as a “high-tech contract manufacturer” specializing in the development of “disruptive technology,” but three former employees who spoke to the Courier & Press said conditions at the company’s Newburgh facility were unsafe.
And according to public records and legal filings, the company, PBTT Corp., was found last year to have violated a state permitting rule and has been repeatedly accused in civil lawsuits of failing to make thousands of dollars in payments to vendors.
“I told my wife as soon as I heard there was a chemical fire that it must be PBTT,” one of the former employees, Tony McCollom, said in an interview. “I knew that place was headed toward a really, really bad problem. That’s how unsafe it was. Never experienced anything like this.”
Another former employee offered a strikingly similar assessment: “I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened,” the employee, who requested anonymity because they still worked in the local manufacturing industry and feared retaliation, told the Courier & Press.
A third former employee, who likewise asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said PBTT Corp. failed to provide employees with proper personal protective equipment and recalled an incident in which they said magnesium dust caught fire, raining down sparks near workers.
All three described what they said were concerning safety-related incidents spanning years at the PBTT Corp. facility located at 5226 Vann Road.
According to the Ohio Township Fire Department, a blaze at the Vann Road plant erupted Saturday afternoon, exposing “hazardous materials” and “combustible metals” to scorching heat and forcing thousands of nearby residents to shelter in place for hours as white-gray smoke and ash billowed skyward.
PBTT Corp. manufactures firearm components among other machined metal products, according to its website and the employees’ accounts. The company specializes in electrolytic plating, a process by which electricity and chemicals are harnessed to coat materials in a thin layer of metal.
On Sunday, after the fire was declared extinguished and all shelter-in-place orders rescinded, a Warrick County Health Department official said tests had shown ash deposited by the fire to be “very caustic.”
The authorities urged anyone who touched or inhaled the ash to seek medical attention.
PBTT Corp. representatives did not respond to phone calls and emails from the Courier & Press regarding the former employees’ claims. The company did not respond to requests for comment regarding the fire.
PBTT Corp. opened the Newburgh facility in 2019 as company leaders vowed to create local manufacturing jobs as they expanded operations.
In 2020, PBTT Corp. CEO Alexander Derderian touted the company’s plans in a speech to the Warrick County Rotary Club, and that same year the Indiana Economic Development Corporation said it awarded PBTT Corp. a $189,180 grant to fund investments in advanced machining and automation.
Previously: Ash from Newburgh chemical fire could be ‘very caustic,’ official says
But in interviews, the three former PBTT Corp. employees alleged the company flouted safety guidelines and exposed workers to what they said were unnecessary risks. McCollum, who resigned from his position as a quality assurance manager Sept. 2 after raising what he said were quality control and safety concerns, described placing metal components into chemical baths by hand.
“We did not have proper face shields or anything like that,” McCollum, who said he has worked in multiple factories over his manufacturing career, recalled. “We’re dealing with these chemicals and dipping the metals; we didn’t even have a hoist. We had to do it with our hands wearing rubber gloves.”
Two of the employees said that in years past, PBTT Corp. stored chemical waste near the rear of the facility instead of paying for professional hazardous waste disposal.
According to Ohio Township Fire Chief Scott Foreman, the fire primarily burned near the rear of the PBTT Corp. facility, where on Sunday what appeared to be intact chemical containers could be seen standing next to burned-out barrels and mounds of debris.
It was unclear what types of chemicals the containers held. Foreman said tests of hazardous materials stored at the facility were ongoing.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, Foreman said during a news conference Sunday in which he disclosed that a previous fire at the PBTT Corp. warehouse in December was ruled “accidental.” He said PBTT Corp. was cooperating with investigators.
One of the former employees described caustic chemicals eating through their shoes as they worked near an electrolytic plating line inside the PBTT Corp. facility.
Another described inhaling toxic ammonia fumes due to what they said were a lack of safety protocols and failures by the company to provide proper personal protective equipment.
“I couldn’t open my eyes,” they recalled of the incident, which they said occurred more than two years ago. “It was burning so bad I couldn’t breathe. It was burning my throat, my nose, and (a coworker) grabbed me and pulled me out of that area.”
In 2023, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited PBTT Corp. 11 times, including for nine “serious” violations, several of which cited rules governing “respiratory protection,” “medical services and first aid” and “hazard communication,” according to an inspection report.
McCollum said he had spoken with multiple PBTT Corp. workers who expressed health concerns due to repeated exposures to volatile chemicals and described an incident in which he said hydrochloric acid splashed into his eye.
When McCullum searched for an eyewash station, all he found was a partially filled hand-held eyewash bottle, he said.
“It was barely a quarter full, and I squeezed it into my eyes and that was it,” McCollum said. “The maintenance guys kept coming to me saying, ‘Hey man, you have to rinse it out longer.’ So I went out front with bottles of water and had one of the other workers pour bottles of water into my eye while my head was leaned back. That’s how unsafe this place was.”
None of the former employees said they were surprised when alerts popped up on their cell phones Saturday informing them of a chemical fire at the Newburgh facility. McCollum and the two other former employees said combustible metal dust would often build up in between cleanings.
“It burned quick,” one of the former employees said, recalling an incident in which they said some of the dust caught fire. “Even the dust that was in the air, it looked like little tiny fireballs going everywhere, and wherever it landed, it burned instantly.”
Officials walk past intact chemical containers while inspecting the site of a large fire at a PBTT Corp. manufacturing facility in Newburgh, Indiana, on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025.
IDEM alleged violation in 2024 as PBTT Corp. battled lawsuits
State regulators and some of PBTT Corp.’s vendors have also taken issue with the company’s practices in recent years, according to public records and legal filings.
In August 2024, IDEM’s Office of Air Quality alleged that PBTT Corp. operated “emission equipment prior to obtaining a registration” in violation of state rules regulating the construction of “minor” sources of air pollution, such as lead smelters.
In an Aug. 9, 2024, letter signed by Nicholas Carr, IDEM’s director of the Southwest Regional Office of Air Quality, the agency did not formally sanction PBTT Corp., but Carr warned the company any future violations could result in legal action.
The letter does not describe the specific nature of the permitting violation.
A review of court records shows multiple vendors have filed suit against PBTT Corp. in recent years alleging the company failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in bills for materials and legal fees.
In 2023, the Evansville-based law firm Kahn, Dees, Donovan & Kahn filed suit against PBTT Corp. and another firm led by Derderian, alleging the two companies owed the law firm more than $31,000 in attorney’s fees and interest.
Smoke is seen billowing from an industrial fire in Newburgh, Indiana, on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. The presence of potentially hazardous chemicals prompted officials to issue a shelter-in-place order.
In a sworn affidavit filed as part of the civil lawsuit in April, Derderian stated PBTT Corp. was “family owned,” with himself, his father, Greg Derderian, and his grandfather, David Hanoute, owning an 85% stake.
In May, Warrick County Circuit Court Judge Greg Granger denied a motion by PBTT. Corp. and the other Derderian company, Evening Star Investments LLC, to set aside a previous judgment in the case, finding the two companies liable for the fees, court records state.
That same month, Granger approved a motion by KDDK to garnish more than $34,000 from “deposit accounts held by PBTT Inc.,” according to legal filings.
In July, the law firm informed the court PBTT Corp. and Evening Star Investments had paid the judgment in full.
The Ohio-based graphite tooling company Graphel Corporation also filed suit against PBTT Corp. in Warrick County Superior Court July 1, alleging the company failed to pay $10,285 in various invoices between May 2021 and January 2022, court records show.
The docket in that case states litigation is ongoing.
And for years, PBTT Corp. has been embroiled in a dispute with Deig Bros. Construction, according to legal filings. The Evansville-based company had been hired by PBTT Corp. to perform work at the Newburgh facility, but in a 2019 civil complaint the company’s attorneys accused PBTT Corp. of failing to make payments.
That case is still ongoing after more than five years. A bench trial scheduled to be held Aug. 26 was cancelled, and court records do not state when subsequent hearings could be held.
The Courier & Press left a message with Deig Bros. Construction seeking comment on the litigation Monday morning.
Officials say ash from fire could be ‘caustic,’ but say air quality not contaminated
Warrick County officials held a joint news conference Sunday alongside representatives from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency outside the PBTT Corp. facility as the scope of the fire’s impact began to come into focus.
Among those impacts, Ohio Township Fire Chief Scott Foreman said, is that contaminated water runoff would likely trigger a fish kill at the nearby Vann Park pond.
And while Foreman said tests had shown no contamination of the air in the surrounding area, the Warrick County Health Department said tests had shown white-gray ash deposited by the fire’s smoke plume to be “very caustic,” with PH levels of up to 14.
The county’s public health officer said Sunday, “We don’t know exactly what’s in the ash,” and urged residents who touch or inhale it to seek medical attention.
Monday afternoon, Deaconess Health Systems reminded the public that emergency medical care should be sought promptly by visiting the closest emergency room, while less-pressing incidents can be addressed at urgent care clinics or by visiting a primary care physician.
Those who find ash at their home, business or on their vehicle are asked to contact the EPA, which set up a public website to coordinate the collection and testing of ash. Reports are to be directed to the EPA public information office by emailing R5_PIO@epa.gov.
“Please include your name, address, best way to contact you and the ash debris seen. We’ll respond to you once we have more information to share,” the agency stated.
The white-gray ash deposited by the fire’s smoke plume prompted the Warrick County School Corp. to cancel outdoor activities, including recess, on Monday.
McCollum said he had been wary to speak publicly about his time working at the PBTT Corp. facility, fearing retaliation, but that he felt the public had a right to know what he says he and others witnessed there.
“I’d never seen anything like it,” McCullum said.
Houston Harwood can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: What we know about PBTT Corp. and Newburgh chemical fire