By Polly Mikula
An electrical fire at the ShackletonThomas furniture and pottery headquarters in the Bridgewater Mill broke out last Friday afternoon, July 19. Firefighters rushed to the scene and swiftly put out the blaze with the help of a recently updated sprinkler system.
No one was inside the ShackletonThomas portion of the building when it caught fire.
Bridgewater and Woodstock firefighters were dispatched at 5:40 p.m. Friday for a general fire alarm, the Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Department recounted in a new release posted on Facebook. “Less than a minute of receiving this initial call Woodstock dispatch updated responding units that they were receiving 911 calls of an explosion and visible smoke. Bridgewater Engine 2 arrived first on scene and could see light smoke coming from the third floor of Shackleton furniture, and were getting reports from bystanders that the smoke was heaviest on the Route 4 side. With this information a second alarm was requested to bring in additional mutual aid for a working fire,” the dept reported.
“Bridgewater crews stretched a 2.5 inch line up the stair tower to the third floor and when the door was opened to the third floor they encountered heavy black smoke with zero visibility. Shortly after getting the line in place Bridgewater crews were joined by Woodstock Fire and together the teams made entry and found a small fire within Shackleton Furniture. Fortunately the building is sprinklered and the sprinklers did their job in keeping the fire contained,” the Bridgewater dept reported. “Once the fire was knocked down and the third floor ventilated crews from area depts got to work putting tarps over furniture on the lower floors as water was dripping down, to mitigate more loss of property. Bridgewater Fire requested the Department of Public Safety Fire and explosion unit to help determine the cause of the fire.”
State fire investigators were at the scene on Monday and still investigating the cause. Shackleton said in a social media comment that there’s a possibility that it was caused by “maybe lithium batteries. We don’t know.”
Mutual aid included Woodstock Fire Rescue, South Woodstock Fire, Pomfret Teago Fire, Killington Fire Rescue, Plymouth Fire Dept, Hartford Fire Rescue and Barnard Fire Dept. Other departments were also called in to cover the surrounding towns, the Bridgewater Fire Dept. noted, adding, “We also would like to thank Woodstock Pizza Chef for feeding all the firefighters on short notice and the neighbors that brought drinking water.”
“The team at ShackletonThomas would like to thank all of the nearby fire departments, especially our neighbor, the Bridgewater Fire Department, and nearby Woodstock Fire Department, for their quick response in putting out the electrical fire that started on the third floor yesterday evening,” ShackletonThomas wrote on Facebook Saturday. “With the recently updated sprinkler system and their hard work, further damage was prevented. We are now cleaning up water and smoke damage, but nothing critical was damaged and, more importantly, no person was injured.”
“The showroom will be closed until next week, but our online store remains open,” the post continued. Showroom floor items were reportedly not damaged. “Pottery production was unaffected and we plan to have furniture production back up and running in two weeks.”
– While the ShackletonThomas showroom is closed this week, floor items were not damaged in the Bridgewater fire.
The fire caused no major structural damage to the building, but the water and smoke caused some. ShackletonThomas reported tools and machinery were damaged but the only piece of furniture damaged was reportedly a bunk bed right next to the fire, that got soaked.
Below ShackletonThomas is Ramunto’s Brick and Brew Pizza, which also remains closed this week due to water damage. A video posted on Facebook shows significant standing water covering the floor around the bar.
“As our community knows, this is not the first time we have managed a crisis like this, and like all other times, we will be fine and come back stronger than ever. We appreciate the support and concern of our friends and neighbors and are so grateful to live and work where we do. We will keep you all posted when we are open again and hope to see you then!”ShackletonThomas wrote on Facebook. It was signed “Charlie, Miranda, and the ShackletonThomas team.”
