Fire guts building at industrial park
BETHEL — At least 100 firefighters battled a fire at the Francis J. Clarke Industrial Park for several hours Sunday, with officials estimating that at one point 3,000 gallons of water per minute were being pumped from hydrants and five portable ponds.
Firefighters began efforts to put out the blaze just after 1:30 p.m. and were still unable to get to the building’s core as the afternoon turned into evening.
“We’re still having a hard time getting to the seed of the fire,” said Fire Marshal Tom Galliford around 6 p.m. “We really haven’t been inside at all.”
Nearly two hours later, at about 8:30 p.m., the fire was finally declared under control — but crews were expected to remain on scene for several hours to do overhaul.
“There’s still some smoke and some hotspots but they’ve gotten it beaten down pretty good,” First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said from the scene.
Mutual aid from Danbury, Brookfield, Weston, Newtown, Trumbull, Shelton, Roxbury, Redding and Monroe were on the scene throughout the day, helping Bethel crews battle the blaze. Crews from still more towns covered fire stations for those who responded to the fire.
Many of the firefighters were in the process of getting ready for the Bethel Memorial Day parade when they were called to respond to the industrial park.
The fire appeared to be contained to a more than 10,000-square-foot manufacturing building at 21 Francis J. Clarke Circle, which was built in 1987 and is owned by IDI LLC, according to online property records.
Galliford said the building housed two companies — one that makes tape adhesive and another that makes non-toxic cleaning products.
Officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection sampled the air and water in the area and found no hazards, he said.
Damage to the building was “pretty significant,” Galliford added.
By 6 p.m. firefighters were in the process of bringing an excavator to the scene to open up the building to help put the fire out.
“The building is going to
be a total loss, there’s no question about that,” Knickerbocker said.
Police said there were no reports of any injuries, though that wouldn’t be confirmed until officials could get into the building once the fire is out.
“The initial assessment is that it appears nobody was in the building,” Capt. Stephen Pugner said.
The cause of the fire will be investigated by the Bethel fire marshal with assistance from the state fire marshal.
Earlier in the day, Bethel crews also put out a fire at the middle school.
Knickerbocker said that fire was not as severe as the ongoing one at Clarke Park. The sprinkler system kept the fire contained to the custodian storage area, he said. The school will be closed Monday.
Other schools in town will be open, as scheduled, according to a post on the Bethel school district’s Facebook page.
“Clean up operations will begin soon but we are in the process of evaluating the impact of the fire on the electrical panels,” the district said in the message.