Jaffrey fire crews responded to a first-alarm fire in the printing room at the D.D. Bean on Wednesday evening.
Employees were on site working just after 6 p.m. when the fire broke out, Fire Chief David Chamberlain said on Wednesday evening. Most employees evacuated the building, but when the first of the fire crews arrived, two employees were still in the building attempting to put the fire out. Those employees were also evacuated, and checked on the scene by Jaffrey-Rindge Memorial Ambulance personnel, but were uninjured.
None of the employees or the firefighters were injured.
Chamberlain said the fire caused heavy damage to a manufacturing room where D.D. Bean prints materials. Though the fire itself and the ensuing water damage was limited to that room, smoke spread throughout the facility.
Chamberlain said it’s not known yet what the cause of the fire was. Crews planned to return to the facility on Thursday morning for further investigation.
The fire was called out as a first alarm, and Chamberlain said he later requested additional assistance to get additional firefighters on scene, both because of the size of the building and the high temperatures, so firefighters could have breaks. Though the fire was put out within 45 minutes, crews remained on scene for nearly three hours, checking that the fire hadn’t spread and venting smoke from the building.
Crews from Rindge, Peterborough, Dublin, New Ipswich, Greenville, as well as the Jaffrey-Rindge Memorial Ambulance and the Jaffrey police assisted at the scene.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.