SOUTHINGTON — The Southington Fire Department is looking at a metal-burning machine as the possible cause for an early morning fire Tuesday at Rex Forge on Atwater Street.
Fire officials are still investigating, but the machine, known as an electrical discharge machine, which uses large amounts of electricity to burn metal, is close to where officials believe the fire originated.
Officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection were also at the scene, helping to contain fuel from a 6,000-gallon oil tank that was on fire at one time. Officials believe the tank ruptured and spilled fuel into the Quinnipiac River.
"This is the biggest concern (right now)," Southington Fire Captain John Folcik said.
A DEEP spokeswoman said 1,000 gallons of light waste oil leaked from the site into the Quinnipiac River.
A boom was installed about a half mile downstream from the site to contain the oil.
The fire at Rex Forge started shortly before 8 a.m. The first fire units arrived to find a heavy fire engulfing a portion of a building along Atwater Street.
Smoke from the fire was visible for miles and police were forced to close down several roads, including exit ramps from nearby Interstate 84.
As of noon Tuesday, fire officials had the fire out, but were remaining on the scene. Crews from South Kensington and Plainville were brought in to help.
A plant employee was sent to the hospital with smoke inhalation, but was later released.
According to a company overview on the Rex Forging website, the company has been in continuous operation at the same location since 1867, when it was then known as the Atwater Manufacturing Company. The company utilizes a 200,000-square-foot building and employs 200 people.
Crews were still on scene Tuesday evening keeping an eye on some possible hot spots.
A tool room had collapsed, making it hard to get access to some of the hot spot areas and was preventing fire crews from getting to oil tanks that they believed were leaking into the Quinnipiac River.
A contractor was helping to remove debris so firefighters could gain access to the tanks and potential hot spots.
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