A small fire was reported at Ansonia Copper and Brass Thursday morning.
There were no injuries reported.
The fire was reported as “smoke coming from the building” at 6:53 a.m.
Ansonia Fire Marshal Ray Tingley said a worker was using a blow torch in the large building Wednesday. It looks like a spark from the blow torch sat smoldering overnight in a pile of wood blocks that previously were part of the factory’s floor.
There was a large amount of smoke inside the building when firefighters arrived, but they were able to quickly get water onto the wood pile.
After putting the fire out, firefighters vented the building, then set up a decontamination shower to wash down the emergency responders.
That was done as a precaution because firefighters did not know what type of chemicals were on the wood in the pile.
“There could have been spills onto that floor over the years,” Tingley said.
Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection were also called to the scene to identify any chemicals inside the building.
Tingley said the DEP had “some issues” with the way some oils or chemicals were being handled in the building, the interior of which is apparently being taken apart.
A message seeking comment was left with the DEP.
Most of the factory is not operational, but there were a few workers there Thursday. The smoke condition was inside a building marked with the numeral “three.”
A worker at the scene said he had not been in that particular building since 2008, when most of the remaining workers were laid off from the factory, which was once one of the area’s largest employers.
Derby firefighters were called in as well, as per protocol.
“It’s a good amount of smoke in a portion of the building, but it didn’t reach down to the floor,” Assistant Chief Edward Adamowski said Thursday morning.
Click the video to watch an interview with the assistant fire chief.
The building did not have much in it other than scrap metal, Adamowski said.
