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February 21, 2007

Spontaneous combustion cited in Portmsouth fire

PORTSMOUTH — The Fire Department is blaming a fire late last night at Vanguard Sailboats on “spontaneous combustion.”

Fire Chief Jeff Lynch said today that the fire at the boatbuilding facility started in a bucket of used rags just before midnight and was likely ignited by chemicals in the dirty rags.

“In boatbuilding, workers use catalysts and other chemicals,” Lynch said. “Catalysts generate heat.”

Nobody was in the building at 200 High Point Ave. at the time, and Lynch said there was no other possible cause of the fire.

A sprinkler system in the industrial building contained the fire until firefighters arrived. After forcing their way into the building, they were able to rapidly extinguish the fire.

No boats were damaged in the fire, but it did cause an estimated $30,000 in damage to the building, mainly to several partition walls. None of the damage was structural.

One firefighter suffered minor injuries when he fell off a loading dock while trying to get into the building. He was taken to Charlton Memorial Hospital for treatment and was released early yesterday morning.

-- Journal staff writer Alex Kuffner

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 3:50 PM | Permalink

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