Connecticut

Firefighters Battle Blaze at North Haven Industrial Facility

Firefighters have battled a blaze at a Connecticut industrial facility that involved hazardous chemicals.

North Haven Fire Chief Paul Januszewski says the fire happened Saturday morning at the Parker-Hannifin Corporation factory.

Firefighters from North Haven, Wallingford and Hamden responded to the 32,000 sq. ft. manufacturing at around 3 a.m. and found flames shooting out of the roof and rear of the building.

Firefighters took about two hours to control the blaze, which seriously damaged about 10 percent of the facility, which produces aircraft parts.

Januszewski says the fire was declared a hazardous materials incident because a "large quantity" of acids and other chemicals spilled during the blaze.

"This was a challenging fire, with a large facility, bitterly cold conditions and the added element of unknown and potentially dangerous chemicals present at the scene," Januszewski said.

The North Haven Fire Department is providing decontamination for workers, which fire officials said is standard procedure with these types of incidents.

State environmental officials and a private contracting company will clean the chemicals before officials investigate the fire, including why the building's fire alarm system wasn't triggered. Fire officials said the fire alarm system had been inspected in the past calendar year.

Remodeling and construction work was taking place at the facility. Officials will investigate if that played a role in the failure of the fire alarm or the cause of the fire, according to Januszewski.

No injuries were reported.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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