More than 200 firefighters from at least 30 towns worked together over the weekend to put out a large fire that destroyed the Bevin Bells factory on Bevin Road in East Hampton, according to fire officials.
Investigators are trying to determine the cause, but believe a lightning strike might have ignited the blaze.
There was no water source to quickly douse the flames, which complicated matters, so firefighters had to haul in water, truck by truck.
Fire officials said the fire started at around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Matt Bevin, who owns the company, said 75 percent of his company’s order items were destroyed in the blaze, including all of the bells that were scheduled to be shipped to the Salvation Army.
“What hurts me the most is the human impact of this,” Bevin said.
Bevin said 26 employees worked at the factory. He said he plans to re-group with the workers, but he said it’s not known what will happen next.
Bevin said insuring the 180-year-old structure was too costly.
“I’m grateful nobody was hurt. Nobody was killed. None of the firefighters have been injured, but at the same time, there is a lot of pain that has been inflicted on a lot of families in this community and in the surrounding communities whose lives were intertwined with the success of this factory,” Bevin said.
Homes near the factory were evacuated overnight as a precaution and residents were moved to a shelter.
"The power went off and, all of a sudden, we saw a lot of flashing lights and people activity outside," said Jed Dolde, who lives near the factory. "Police were going up and down the street evacuating houses."
Firefighters had to deal with several issues while battling the massive blaze.
"The cause is not known at this point time but the entire factory was involved in the fire," said Steve Caron, spokesperson for the Connecticut Incident Team. "Now it's a matter of trying to assess the hazardous material and what was inside that building."
Propane tanks were among the hazardous materials inside the factory.
"When we got to the back of the building, the back three-quarters of the building was fully involved. With the propane tanks, we evacuated the area," said East Hampton Fire Chief Paul Owen.
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It took several hours to bring the fire under control and residents were allowed to return to their homes.
Paul Kissner lives next door to the factory.
"To have such a historical landmark go down it is a shame for the whole community, really and, luckily, it was just a building and nobody else, as far as we know, got hurt," Kissner said. "As long as people are OK, the town will carry on. We still have our bells and we'll still be bell ringers."
No injuries have been reported.
