Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant Torrington, CT – Fire at carpet factory held in check by sprinkler system August 18, 2015 viking210 A fire Sunday at a carpet factory began when a forklift operator drove over flammable material used to make carpet padding, the fire marshal said. Fire Marshal Edward Bascetta ruled the fire as accidental. Bascetta said a sprinkler system activated and kept the fire in check, for the most part, “or we would have had a much larger fire than we did. They had all their safeguards in place.” The fire department called for three alarms Sunday evening after workers, an alarm system and nearby firefighters simultaneously discovered there was a fire within the 150,000-square-foot building owned by Calhoun, Ga. based Mohawk Industries. The massive industrial building stretches from Church Street to Pearl Street and has an entrance on Migeon Avenue. “The workers were moving the stock pile of foam that they make into padding for carpets,” Bascetta said. “The forklift operator had gone in, picked up a pile and backed up against (material) and had some latex go under the forklift where the exhaust is.” Bascetta said the heat of the exhaust sparked the fire in the latex, which is extremely flammable. “Once it gets in the latex piles, it keeps burning and you had to pull it apart to get it out.” Brunoli said a firefighter, who was also trained as a forklift operator, used the machine to carry the smoldering bales of latex outside, where it was extinguished. Brunoli said the firefighter drove the forklift while wearing his protective equipment, including his air pack. Bascetta said only stock was damaged. “The manufacturing side of the facility is close to being up and running today,” he said Monday afternoon. “They were getting stock in at 10 this morning.” Representatives of the company did not return requests for comment. A woman at the factory said they could not comment, but work was continuing. “They had plenty of workers there late last night working around-the-clock to clean up the area,” Bascetta said. Fire Chief Gary Brunoli said the crew on Truck 4, returning to the fire station from another incident smelled smoke. He said they spun the fire truck around and by the time the department got the call about the fire, they were already there. Brunoli and Bascetta said the quick response and fire suppression systems in place in the building helped control the fire before it got out of control. There were no injuries, and Bascetta said there was no major damage to the building. Bascetta said the company has been proactive about fire safety. “They came to the fire department and said we manufacture foam padding for carpets, and we will have fires,” Bascetta said. “They take precautionary measures to prevent that, but sometimes something like this occurs and it is purely accidental.” Bascatta said when fires burn in latex bundles the only way to extinguish it is to drag it from the building and pick it apart while spraying it down. Brunoli said they used foam to douse the smoldering fire and the Department of Energy and Environmental protection monitored runoff to ensure none of the plastic bits got into storm water systems.
