By William Kaempffer
The New Haven Register
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — An explosion and fire hit at a Fair Haven scrap yard Friday morning — leaving one junkyard raccoon displaced and stranded in a tree.
A second blaze in the afternoon at a quarry forced firefighters to run hundreds of feet of hose to reach the nearest hydrant.
In the earlier incident, the Fire Department received a report of an explosion and fireball at about 11 a.m. at Regan Metal Corp., a scrap yard at 102 Chapel St.
Assistant Fire Chief Ralph Black said the cause remained unclear and under investigation. What firefighters encountered was heavy smoke and a fire in a large metal-filled container that had extended to another scrap metal heap.
Fire officials were trying to determine exactly what was in the container, and whether it posed an environmental hazard from toxic fumes or water runoff.
Nearby residents reported an explosion and fireball, but fire officials believe it was a cloud of gas released when the metal pile ignited.
“The part of the fire we’re trying to figure out is, how did it start,” said Black. No workers were injured, but one firefighter was taken to the hospital. His injury was not believed to be serious.
Workers at the scene declined comment and the owner of the company was unavailable. Other workers said he was operating heavy machinery in the scrap yard pulling apart the metal pile to help firefighters extinguish hot spots.
A raccoon fleeing the fire scrambled up a nearby tree, where it remained for much of the time firefighters remained at the scene.
A few hours later, a box truck at a quarry on Route 80 near the East Haven line burst into flames.
Complicating matters for firefighters was reaching and shoveling out the nearest hydrant. There was also a 600-gallon diesel tank about 8 feet from the fire, along with several canisters containing propane and acetylene.
A worker was reported to have suffered second-degree burns on his face.
The city, Black said, has about 2,250 hydrants and firefighters have been systematically trying to visit each one to make sure it is accessible.
Black estimated that locating and digging out the hydrant Friday took an extra five minutes, which was not key in the truck fire, but might be a different story in a house fire.
While every hydrant in the city will be checked in the next few days, he said the department would appreciate any help it can get in digging them out.
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