Smoke continued to pour from back of industrial building a commercial building at 2 Fifth Street in Peabody as of 4:30 pm.
BY ADAM SWIFT
PEABODY — Firefighters battled a three-alarm fire at a commercial building at 2 Fifth St. Tuesday.
Crews responded to a call about heavy smoke at Lifoam Industries LLC shortly before 3:30 p.m., according to Peabody Fire Chief Steve Pasdon.
“There was heavy, heavy black smoke when we got here, and we were not able to determine if there was a fire,” he said. After a short time on the scene, Pasdon said firefighters determined that there was heavy fire as well as smoke.
There was also a partial roof collapse caused by the extreme temperatures.
Lifoam employees were evacuated from the building and no one was injured, the chief said.
At 5 p.m., the fire was still burning. At 9 p.m., there was still an active fire scene. An excavator had been called in to sift through debris and there was a request for a foam truck from Massport.
According to Peabody firefighters, they were expecting it to be a long duration event, with mutual aid from other communities providing aid in case of further calls in the city.
“All I can tell you is that I opened the door, I saw the fire, I turned around, I got out and I made sure all my people got out,” said Lifoam employee John Meloski.
Meloski said the fire was in the main warehouse of the building.
In addition to the flames and smoke, firefighters dealt with wind, high temperatures and a possible hazmat situation caused by burning styrofoam products at the single-story building. Meloski said he has been working at the company for 21 years and has never seen the materials burn until today.
Pasdon said there were as many as 50 firefighters, including crews from surrounding communities on the scene. The state fire marshal’s office and a hazmat team were also at the scene.
Just before 5 p.m., the Lifoam employees were allowed to return to the parking lot to get their vehicles.
Lifoam manufactures foam coolers, drink holders and pool noodles, among other products.
Pasdon said the cause of the fire had yet to be determined.
Adam Swift can be reached at [email protected].
