SOUTH BUFFALO TWP, Armstrong County — A fire Tuesday night that ripped through a kitchen countertop manufacturing business was apparently caused by an electrical malfunction with an engine-block heater in one of the firm’s trucks, authorities said.

It took several hours and more than 100 firefighters from 17 departments in four counties to put out the blaze at Blume’s Solid Surface Products on Freeport Road.

Damage was estimated at $1 million. Destroyed was the company’s main building, which measured at least 200 by 200 feet, and its vast contents of product and machinery.

“The fire raced through here so fast that we couldn’t catch it,” said Chief Randy Brozenick of the South Buffalo Township Fire Department.

A state police deputy fire marshal from the Butler barracks, who is leading the investigation, was at the fire Tuesday night and was to return this morning.

Investigators planned today to again sift through the rubble and speak more to company officials, some who showed up at the business Tuesday night after learning of the fire.

Gustave Blume, the president, and Dorothy Blume, vice president and treasurer, were unavailable for comment this morning.

A motorist headed to work was the first to notice the flames and called 911 at 6:08 p.m.

“He saw the truck (in back of the building) on fire,” Brozenick said.

The truck, which had a block heater installed in the engine, was one of three trucks parked at the rear loading dock.

The first-arriving crews encountered immediate problems. The caps on two of the three nearest fire hydrants were frozen and would not open.

Workers from the water authority were called and came out with heating devices to open the hydrants

But soon there was another problem — water runoff and frigid temperatures were making it hard for engines, trucks and tankers to reach the burning building.

“The building sets on a hill,” said Brozenick, who is director of the Armstrong County’s Emergency Management Agency. “The water was making it icy.”

The runoff was not only freezing over on the access roads, but on Freeport Road, too.

The township road department and the state Department of Transportation both were called and rushed in salt trucks to help ease the treacherous driving conditions.

About four hours after it started, that blaze was finally under control.

Among the fire department were Worthington and Freeport, and Saxonburg, Buffalo Township, Sarver and Winfield, all from Butler County.

The last crew did not leave the scene until 12:38 a.m. today.