Officials seek cause for Amherst fires

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Don Himsel photo Investigators work the scene of an industrial fire at 8 Manhattan Drive in Amherst. Two fires struck the plant in three days, and fire officials say the first fire was electrical and they will continue to investigate the cause of the second, which occurred Saturday morning.

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Staff photo by Don Himsel
Investigators are working the scene of the second fire at 8 Manhattan Drive in Amherst.

Enlarge Purchase Photo

Don Himsel photo Investigators work the scene of an industrial fire at 8 Manhattan Drive in Amherst. Two fires struck the plant in three days, and fire officials say the first fire was electrical and they will continue to investigate the cause of the second, which occurred Saturday morning.

Enlarge Purchase Photo

AMHERST – Fire officials say they have part of the answer to why fire struck an industrial building here twice in three days.

Early Thursday morning, Feb. 2, fire damaged a small section of the plant on Manhattan Drive. Then early Saturday a larger blaze destroyed much more, about one-third of the 26,000 square foot facility that houses three businesses.

Amherst Fire Chief Mark Boynton said he and investigators from the state fire marshal’s office determined the initial fire was electrical and it started in a utility area.

State fire officials will continue to shift through debris to try to determine to cause of the second fire, said the chief, “but we do not believe the Saturday morning fire was a continuation” of the first fire. He declined to speculate on the possible cause.

The Bread Chef, a commercial bakery located adjacent to the electrical utility area, is a total loss, said owner Gilbert Vidal, who said all his baking equipment was destroyed.

“We’re thinking about what to do next,” he said.

Early on the morning of Feb. 2, fire damaged a portion of the complex, about five by 15 feet. Then on Saturday a much larger part, including the production area for Poly-Ject, a plastics injection molding firm, was damaged. A third section that housed a Cold Stone Creamery office and a vacant section are intact but might have some smoke damage.

Amherst firefighters were called back to Manhattan Drive at about 6:30 Saturday morning, with three engines, a tower truck and a tanker, and with aid from Milford, Merrimack, Hollis and Mont Vernon departments.

Later that day officials from the state fire marshal’s office and insurance adjustors roamed the periphery of the site while excavators razed part of the building “for safety concerns and to get rid of lingering hot spots,” Amherst Deputy Fire Chief Matt Conley said.

Poly-Ject owner Larry Thibeault of Brookline said he heard the report of the second fire on the TV news around 8 a.m. Saturday and rushed over.

Thibeault founded the company in 1982 and now owns it with his son Steven. They design and manufacture plastic parts for a variety of industries. The Manhattan Drive complex is located off Caldwell Drive, near Gymnastics Village.

No one was injured in either fire. The first one was reported by Poly-Ject night shift employees around 2 a.m. after they saw smoke coming into the production area from the Bread Chef portion. Conley said the dispatch center received a 911 call for the second fire.

Don Himsel contributed to this story.