Avon Industrial Park fire injures one

The Enterprise of Brockton, Mass.
www.enterprisenews.com
By Maria Papadopoulos
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
BROCKTON — At least one person was sent to a local hospital with minor injuries following a four-alarm blaze in the Avon Industrial Park that evacuated several employees of VersaCold, a warehouse and distribution center, Monday afternoon, witnesses and a fire dispatcher said.

The injured persons name, age, address or condition were not immediately available Monday night.

Fire crews from several communities responded to the 4:07 p.m. fire Monday at 55 Murphy Drive.
An extensively burnt area could be seen on the side of the warehouse building late Monday afternoon. A long crane hoisted firefighters onto the building.

A strong smell of burnt plastic permeated the air as other firefighters secured hose lines to pump water to the scene. Several bystanders covered their mouths with their clothing to ward off fumes as news helicopters swirled overhead.

Luis Aguilar, a supervisor at VersaCold, said he was among about 20 employees who were working inside the building when somebody smelled smoke. The employees were quickly evacuated, he said.

We dont know (what happened). Somebody came over and said there was smoke outside. Thats when I called 911, Aguilar said. We just followed the emergency procedures for the company.

Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire Monday night. Details on estimated damages were not immediately available Monday.

VersaCold/Atlas operates more than 120 temperature-controlled warehouses and distribution centers across Canada and the U.S., in Argentina, New Zealand and Australia, according to the companys Web site.
In Massachusetts, the company operates centers in Avon and in Taunton, in the Myles Standish Industrial Park.

The Avon center is a state of the art facility that provides ammonia refrigeration, 5 million cubic feet fully racked and designed for case picking, according to the companys Web site. The center has a fully computerized monitoring system for temperature, ammonia and refrigeration control, according to the site.

Brockton, West Bridgewater, Stoughton, Braintree, Holbrook, Abington, Bridgewater, Easton and Canton were among communities that provided mutual aid on Monday.

Maria Papadopoulos can be reached at mpapadopoulos@enterprisenews.com.

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• GHSNEVID
• GHSVID
• Avon
• fire
• VersaCold
• Murphy