Three-alarm blaze strikes Essex recycling facility
More than 10 departments respond to Wednesday fire, closing roads and battling flames late into night
Essex — Firefighters from more than 10 departments battled for hours to bring a three-alarm fire at a recycling facility on Dump Road under control Wednesday, with it expected to take several more hours to completely extinguish the blaze.
According to a Guilford fire official on scene, the building — which is at least 100 by 60 feet — was filled with recycling material including plastics, wood and paper.
A witnessed first called in the fire about 3 p.m.
As of 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, an Essex fire official said the blaze mostly was under control, with firefighters working on hotspots and cleaning out debris "until it's done."
Calamari Recycling Co. Inc. — the company that a state trooper on site said owns the building in question — is at 20 Dump Road.
The company relocated to Essex from New London in 1999 after development of the Fort Trumbull peninsula in the city.
Known as Calamari Brothers Co. Inc. at the time, its former property on Trumbull Street cost the public about $9 million to clean up before Pfizer Inc. built the office building now occupied by Electric Boat, according to The Day archives.
According to Calamari's website, the company sits on 14 acres in Essex and employs more than 25 full-time workers. Primarily a metals recycling facility, it also handles materials
from appliances and asphalt to flooring and insulation.
Its property is just beyond the Essex Transfer Station & Recycling Center, which is at 5 Dump Road.
On state Route 154 early Wednesday night, at the entrance of Dump Road, tanker trucks in a line took turns filling up with water from a Kelsey Hill Road pond and then heading to the difficult-to-reach building.
By late in the evening, police had reopened Route 154 and the tankers had moved to Dump Road.
Departments from Essex, Deep River, Clinton, Chester, Madison, Guilford, Old Lyme, Westbrook, North Madison, Killingworth and Old Saybrook were present, with more trickling in.
By 6 p.m., one 3,000-gallon pumper truck from Westbrook already had been filled six times, and state Department of Transportation crews were spreading salt and sand on Route 154 to limit icing from water spilling from the site.
Preliminary reports indicate that the fire began in a shed on the property.
Smoke billowing from the fire was visible on state Route 9 northbound from several miles away throughout the afternoon. Late Wednesday night, state police still continued to block Exit 4 on Route 9 northbound, the exit nearest to the facility.
No information regarding injuries or hazardous material concerns at the site is available at this time.