’90 seconds away from catastrophic fire’

By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
NEWPORT — Deputy Fire Chief David McCrillis had nothing but praise for the effort of approximately 65 firefighters from Newport and 10 area communities who battled Friday’s blaze at LaValley Building Supply that destroyed Building 6, a storage unit.

“We were 90 seconds away from a catastrophic fire,” McCrillis said.

When he arrived as a passenger on the first Newport fire truck he was hoping for the best. “For the first five seconds I thought we could knock it down,” he related, but that never happened.

Once those 5 seconds had ticked off, McCrillis realize there was going to be a battle to fight. Outside communities were called in to help. Including Newport, there were approximately 65 firefighters and 15 pieces of fire apparatus at the scene.

On Monday and Tuesday, Timothy E. Austin, a Fire Analysis from NEFCO Fire Investigators out of Rochester, N.H., was on scene for approximately 8 hours in an effort to determine the cause of the blaze in the 40 by 80-foot building.

“He found the breaker box and looked at the forklift stored inside Building 6,” McCrillis said. “He had to crawl to reach some areas.” McCrillis added.

The building contained counter tops, fasteners and finished wooden flooring,” according to the Deputy Fire Chief.

After sifting through the remains he ruled the cause was ”undetermined.” The building sits on a cement slab with no plumbing or heating units. There was electricity to the building, however.

Upon arrival at the scene, McCrillis said he could hear the fire but couldn’t see any. “Within the first 60 seconds we knew we lost the building.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of my crew. We were very fortunate to have extra people around the station,” McCrillis said.

Heavily traveled Routes 11 and 103 were shut down to traffic from Pinnacle Road to Reeds Mill Road after the fire was reported to the Newport Police Department Emergency Communicationsd Center. at 9:20 a.m. The last truck returned to the station at 2:14 p.m.

The road was closed for 2 hours and 23 minutes, reopening to a single lane at 11:43 a.m.

LaValley personnel remained on the scene for overnight fire watch.

There were no injuries reported although firefighter Eric Benson was taken to the hospital to be treated for dehydration and released later in the day.

Much to the delight of its customers, LaValley’s main building was open for business on Friday after sustaining moderate damage

“Fortunately things went well and other departments helped us to clean up,” McCrillis reported on Friday.

Units from Grantham, Newbury and Ascutney covered the Newport Fire Station, about one mile away from the fire scene. “There were no other calls for service,” McCrillis related.

The Country Kitchen Restaurant, next door to LaValley Building Supply, was evacuated during the fire because of its proximity to the burning structure.

An employee at Country Kitchen said she didn’t know how many breakfast customers weren’t able to finish their meals. “We did have to hold off on take-out orders as the restaurant remained closed for the rest of the day,” the employee said.

Deputy Fire Chief McCrillis said a line from Engine 4, the first arriving truck, was hooked up to a hydrant across the highway and the 750 gallons on the truck could last about 5 or 6 minutes utilizing its 3/4-inch line.

Two other lines pumped water from the nearby main branch of the Sugar River that flows along the highway and through downtown Newport on its way to the Connecticut River in West Claremont.

McCrillis reported there was a little wind during the day Thursday. “I was glad it wasn’t winter and freezing cold,” he said. “The hydrant and none of the lines froze,” he related.