Massachusetts Town Sends All Its' On-Duty Firefighters To Battle Blaze At Plastics Company

LEOMINSTER -- Employees at a plastics company evacuated Monday afternoon when a small fire sent thick smoke through parts of the building, causing one worker to go to the hospital for inhalation.

Every on-duty Leominster firefighter responded to Modern Dispersions Inc. at 78 Marguerite Ave. for a small fire in a dust collecting unit, Fire Chief Alfred LeBlanc said while standing outside the building.

The fire likely started when a spark shot into the unit, according to Jan Kozma, owner of Modern Dispersions Inc. LeBlanc said firefighters had a difficult time getting their hoses into the metal structure, but found the fire confined to about a 15-foot area, and extinguished it successfully.

"It (the firefighting process) was conducted on the interior under difficult conditions," LeBlanc said.

The employees evacuated, but returned to work after the fire was put out. The company employs about 70 people, Kozma said, and he did not know how many of them were inside the building when the fire started.

Val Leger, the employee who went to the hospital, was treated and released from the emergency room at HealthAlliance Hospital/Leominster on Monday afternoon.

The building's smoke alarms alerted the fire department around 10:50 a.m., and firefighters stayed at the company to clean the area for several hours after the fire, according to Deputy Fire Chief Ronald M. Pierce. They used their de-contamination unit to secure the building.

"This has occurred before, very rarely," Kozma said. The company compounds plastic materials for commercial use, and the dust collector is necessary to ventilate the building.

"We don't expect much damage," Kozma said. "There was more smoke than fire." He said the company will assess the destruction and investigate the fire.

LeBlanc said the firefighters who went inside the building will have to wear their reserve protective uniforms while they wash the uniforms they wore while fighting the fire, because their equipment was "contaminated." LeBlanc said it will take "a couple of days" to clean all the equipment, and was thankful they have the reserves.

Fitchburg, Shirley, Sterling and off-duty Leominster firefighters covered the fire department during the fire.