A curious stack of shipping containers is taking shape among the woods along Bucktown Road in Dorchester County.
It’s quickly coming together as a fire testing lab – one of the most advanced facilities in the nation And the first resident of the county’s technology park, the Eastern Shore Innovation Center.
The company building it – Fire & Risk Alliance – expects the lab to be finished in September. It’s been a two-year process since they first approached Dorchester County’s director of Economic Development, Susan Banks. She’s been trying to get business in the tech park for years.
"When I started out in business development, that was my first job - trying to find a good fit for the park," Banks said. "And it was really challenging. So this is really exciting."
Fire & Risk Alliance officials said they expect to hire 30 people by the end of the year. A hundred employees within three years.
The company has purchased six lots, or 30 acres, in the tech park – commanding half the buildable space. Coming over the next few years will be more facilities, more offices and more jobs.
In a media release, the company said:
"Fire & Risk Alliance looks forward to continuing to work alongside the City of Cambridge and Dorchester County to bring this facility to life and deliver the economic opportunities, jobs, and community investment it represents. Fire & Risk Alliance is committed to being a long-term partner in the growth and prosperity of Maryland’s Eastern Shore."
For local leaders, it’s been satisfying to see a major move on the economic development front. Like County Council president Lenny Pfeffer.
"I think this is going to help put Dorchester County on the map for saying, ' Hey we have skilled positions that are available,'" Pfeffer said. "Any time we can bring a business here that's going to bring jobs, that's very exciting. Because we need to make sure our citizens have jobs available to them. And it also helps to increase the tax base."
The towering assembly of steel shipping containers is creating a 65-foot tall, football-field long lab, in which materials and assemblies can be tested for their reactions on fire. The company’s business strategy is to provide fire testing and ratings for the many emerging technologies and products that are rushing to market. Banks explains.
"Innovation keeps outpacing the fire safety standards," she said. "So they are burning these products that come out so they can better understand how they behave in a real live fire. They're tied to a bunch of emerging technologies. They're just moving so fast the code can't keep up."
Pfeffer encountered rumors online that the new business was a battery disposal operation that burned lithium batteries. He stressed that the burning is done only to test products for fire safety, and the testing facility is particular about controlling any pollution.
"We just want people to know, this will be a testing facility. Yes, they will be occaisionally burning a lithium battery plus structural steel - anything you want to get a fire rating on to see how it reacts to fire, how to extinguish it," he said.
"Their entire roof is a hood-duct system. It'll be taken out of there and scrubbed along with any water runoff from the extinguishing process will be tested on site and treated if needed and taken to an appropriate facility. So there won't be any kind of runoff or fumes or bad smells or smoke to the citizens of the area, from what they're telling us."
