RUMFORD — Firefighters from five communities quickly extinguished a propane heater fire on the roof of Tractor Supply Co. early Monday morning, Fire Chief Chris Reed said.

There were no injuries.

“It was a really good save of the building, given the time of day,” he said.

The store at 142 Valley Circle opened later in the morning, he said.

Someone loading sand at the nearby town highway garage spotted the fire around 5 a.m., Reed said.

The Police Department was notified when a store alarm sounded.

A dozen Rumford firefighters, along with others from Mexico, Dixfield, Peru and Andover responded to the scene.

Reed said when firefighters got equipment set up, they quickly realized it was a propane-fueled fire, “so we went around to the emergency shut-offs and shut them off.”

“The building is fully sprinklered, so for it to burn through the roof without the sprinkler system going off, I knew it wasn’t coming from inside. I knew it had to be an outside-driven fire,” he said.

There are four propane tanks behind the building that are piped to heaters in each section of the complex in the River Valley Crossing plaza, he said.

Damage was limited to “just a small leak in the roof where the rubber membrane burned,” the chief said.

Firefighters were on scene for about two hours.

bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net

 

 

Copy the Story Link