Multiple fire departments respond to a fire Wednesday at the former Madison Paper Industries mill. Timber Pure Technologies is setting up its operation at the former mill. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
MADISON — A debris fire flared at the former Madison paper mill late Wednesday morning, prompting a second-alarm response from firefighters.
Madison Fire Chief Don French said in a phone call that multiple crews responded to the report of a fire at Timber Pure Technologies, formerly the Madison Paper Industries mill. French said heavy fire was showing when crews arrived at the former mill and crews had to fight the flames with fire extinguishers, because it was in the electrical conduit.
“I upgraded to a second alarm because they said there was heavy fire showing when one of the guys got up on scene,” French said.
The location of the fire was hard for firefighters to access, French said.
Eight to 10 employees were there at the time of the fire, but nobody was injured.
Jay Field, a spokesperson for TimberHP by GO Lab Inc., said that the fire was in an area of the mill where crews had been doing scrapping work.
“There was a minor debris fire in an area where we’ve been doing some scrapping,” Field said. “It was quickly put out and handled, and there was no threat to life in any way.”
Field added that as far as he knew, there was no damage from the fire.
Multiple fire departments respond to a fire Wednesday at the former Madison Paper Industries mill. Timber Pure Technologies has been setting up its operations there. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
French said that the fire was accidental. Though it did not take a lot of time to put out the fire, the overhaul to make sure it was out was extensive.
“It took an hour or so with the overhaul to put it out to make sure we got all the hotspots,” French said. “I had them shut down the electrical grid inside of the mill and then we extinguished it with water.”
Crews from Anson, Madison, Starks, Skowhegan, Athens, Norridgewock and Solon fire departments responded Wednesday and were at the former mill until around 1 p.m.
The former paper mill is now owned by GO Lab Inc., a Belfast-based building products manufacturer. The company closed on the $1.9 million deal to buy the building in 2019 with a listing price of $2.5 million.
Prior to the purchase, the structure was home to Madison Paper Industries, which shuttered in 2016, laying off 214 mill workers.
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