PUTNEY — It had the potential to be a major disaster, but an early-morning fire on Jan. 5 at Soundview Paper Company was quickly brought under control.
No injuries were reported, and the fire was not suspicious, said Putney Fire Chief Tom Goddard.
Goddard said the fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. in the Lower Mill building of the Soundview complex on 8 Water St.
Putney fire crews were on the scene at 3:18 a.m., and were soon joined by mutual aid companies from Brattleboro, Dummerston, and Westminster, plus an ambulance from Rescue Inc.
Employees at the mill said there was a fire inside the primary paper processing machine within the Lower Mill, and Goddard said he immediately sounded a second alarm. A third alarm was struck at 3:37 a.m., and a fourth alarm at 3:51 a.m.
“This fire could have been a big disaster, but thanks to a lot of aggressive, hard work by the firefighters and the employees, we were able to contain it,” Goddard told The Commons after the fire was brought under control.
While fire crews brought hose lines into the building, Goddard said dry chemical fire extinguishers were used to initially contain the fire to Machine 3. Water streams were used around the machine to extinguish paper dust fires.
“That was the biggest worry, the potential for a dust explosion,” said Goddard. “The people working inside the mill did a good job to prevent that. They knew what to do.”
Goddard said the fire was declared under control at 4:54 a.m., but fire crews were there until about 11:20 a.m. to make sure the blaze was fully extinguished. Route 5 was closed to through traffic for several hours.
There was no structural damage to the building, and employees were able to begin work by mid-morning to get Machine 3 back into operation.
Goddard said that there wasn't a reason to suspect illegal activity, but still contacted fire investigators from the Vermont State Police and the Vermont Division of Fire Safety to check out the fire's cause and origin.
According to Goddard, they quickly concluded that the fire was not suspicious.
Also assisting Putney were crews from Bellows Falls, Guilford, and Saxtons River, as well as Chesterfield, Spofford, Keene, Swanzey, Walpole, North Walpole, and Hinsdale, N.H. Southwest New Hampshire Fire Mutual Aid provided command support services on the scene.