Charlie Breitrose
Firefighters put out a fire in a lab at Doble Engineering on Walnut Street in Watertown Monday morning.
A fire ignited around dawn at an empty lab on Walnut Street Monday morning, and Watertown Firefighters knocked down the two-alarm blaze in a potentially hazardous situation.
Doble Engineering was closed when the Fire Department received a report of an alarm at about 6:30 a.m. Monday, said Deputy Fire Chief Rob Iannetta.
“It came in as a regular smoke detector activation, like we have done 100 times before,” Iannetta said. “When we go there, the whole first floor was filled with smoke. Soon after the sprinkler system activated.”
The lab that had the fire was filled with oils and chemicals used by the company.
“(The fire) was caused by and oven overheating which caused oil it was heating to catch fire,” Iannetta said.
The fire was not a big one, Iannetta said, but a second alarm was called because of the chemicals in the lab. A Waltham ladder truck and a Newton fire engine assisted at the scene.
“The problem is we didn’t know what chemicals were in the lab,” Iannetta said. “There were a lot of oils and fuels in there.”
Also, the oils were spread around by the water when the sprinklers went off.
“They have got a lot of clean up to do,” Iannetta said.
Firefighters also faced a very smoky scene, and the air was filled with carbon monoxide and other dangerous fumes, Iannetta added. Ventilation was difficult because none of the windows opened.
The fire was knocked down by about 8 a.m.
I hope a full inventory of chemicals is done at every business in which chemicals are used. Firemen and other first responders must be aware of hazardous materials to better protect the people they serve and themselves. Special equipment might have to be purchased for specific materials.