FIREFIGHTERS SAVE MUSEUM ARTIFACTS
The quick-thinking and aggressive response by Grafton firefighters helped save irreplaceable artifacts inside the State Police Museum and Learning Center after a fire broke out there late Saturday night, officials said.
“My firefighters made an aggressive attack, we had the fire under control,” said Grafton fire Chief Michael Gauthier. “We sent a second crew down to put salvage covers over their artifacts to try to protect as much of the property as we could.”
The fire started in a secondfloor conference room after some oily rags disposed of by a work crew were improperly placed in a plastic bag with other materials and spontaneously combusted, according to state fire marshal Peter J. Ostroskey.
The building does not have fire alarms, though adding them to the building was part of the agenda for a meeting next week, state police spokesman David Procopio said. Grafton police initially responded when fire blasted through an upstairs window, triggering a burglar alarm.
The museum is located in a former state police barracks on Route 140 in Grafton and opened in 2015. While some books and documents will need to be restored, many of the museum’s prized artifacts, including badges, uniforms and documents dating to the 1800s, were spared.
“I cannot explain how significant the salvage covers were because those artifacts cannot be replaced,” said Charlie Alejandro, a former trooper and the museum’s director. “If it wasn’t for the Grafton fire department, for them to have the forethought about the fact that there were artifacts in there that were irreplaceable, the fire department ensured the damage was even less than what it could have been.”
The acrid smell of smoke filled the upstairs yesterday morning. The walls in and around the conference room were charred black, and items like old photographs, various papers and a teddy bear with a state police uniform were dusted with soot from the fire.
“It’s a difficult day, but I give credit to the former troopers and everyone who put so much time and effort into this facility on a daily basis,” said state police superintendent Col. Richard D. McKeon, noting the museum does not receive any state funding and relies on public donations and volunteer work from current and former troopers.