Within two hours Monday morning, volunteers from the Derby Fire Department responded to a call for smoke at Derby High School and then a small fire at the Derby Cellular Products building on Roosevelt Drive.
No injuries were reported in either incident.
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Derby High School Smoke Out
Assistant Chief William Nicoletti, from the East End Hose. Co., said the first call came from Derby High School about 8:57 a.m. A ventilation motor fan on the roof of the gym seized and started smoking, Nicoletti said.
When firefighters responded there was smoke in the gymnasium and the rotunda, Nicoletti said. The students were evacuated, said principal Fran Thompson.
“As soon as we noticed we pulled the fire alarm,” Thompson said. “We were back in within 20 minutes. Everyone was fine. It was a great exercise for us. The kids and the staff evacuated the building right away.”
Nicoletti said the fire department turned off the motor and let the ventilation unit cool off while they cleared the gym of the smoke.
Thompson said the motor fan will be replaced.
Derby Cellular Products: Smoke and Fire
Soon after the Derby High School smoke-out, fire fighters were called to a small fire in the back of Derby Cellular Products at about 10:35 a.m.
The factory stopped operating in June when it merged production with LTi Flexible Products in Georgia. But Monday morning a small crew was working in the Derby facility to help out the company’s southern partner, said Robert Turschmann, the maintenance manager for Derby Cellular. Those operations are temporary, Turschmann said.
The fire burned an 8‑inch-thick metal ventilation pipe on the back of the building, where a substance inside the pipe had caught fire, Nicoletti said. The pipe vents the stoves for the plant, Nicoletti said.
A 40-foot section of the pipe was affected, Nicoletti said, and firefighters used a ladder truck to get near the roof to get rid of the blockage in the pipe and put out the fire. Nicoletti said within 20 minutes the crew had the fire under control. Shelton volunteer firefighters covered Derby’s calls while about 25 volunteers worked at the Derby Cellular Products fire.
Turschmann said the fire was very small and on the outside of the building, so no smoke traveled inside.
