Quincy firefighters swiftly put out industrial blaze
Heated metal objects set a stack of wood pallets on fire at Industrial Heat Treating at 6 a.m .Wednesday. A deputy chief said the metal fell onto the pallets as they were being moved. No one was injured.
By Lane Lambert
The Patriot Ledger
Posted August 26, 2015
QUINCY, MASS.
Firefighters swiftly extinguished an early Wednesday morning blaze at the Industrial Heat Treating plant on Densmore Street in North Quincy.
Deputy Chief Gary Smyth said the one-alarm fire was reported at 6 a.m., when a quantity of “hot metal objects” fell onto a stack of wooden pallets and ignited them.
Smyth said a pair of workers were moving the objects across a work space in the middle of the building “as part of the heating process” when the accident occurred.
He said the blaze created heavy smoke, but that no workers or firefighters were injured.
Three engine units and two ladder units responded to the fire – the usual number for a one-alarm call.
“We knocked it down pretty quick,” Smyth said, so all the smoke and water damage was confined to the center of the building’s interior. He had no immediate damage estimate but he said it would be low.
Industrial Heat Treating began as a World War II industry in 1942. The company provides metal treatment services to a range of customers, from medical and food industry firms to musical instruments and safety alarm systems.
The heat treating and annealing processes include aluminum and other metals, and open fire and vacuum treating. The plant is located at 22-25 Densmore St.