Norton Water Commission Addresses Lack Of Sprinklers In Warehouse Fire

Press release from the Town of Norton:

05-14-2020 A MESSAGE FROM THE WATER & SEWER COMMISSION

NORTON WATER CUSTOMERS

We had a huge fire as many of you may know at the old abandoned Tweave building located on Barrows Street.

The Norton Fire Department and many other area towns assisted in putting the fire out and we cannot thank them all enough for their response.

The Fire Departments used a combination of Town water drafted water from an adjacent river. Our distribution system handled this major fire without incident. The Norton Water Department had staffing onsite to monitor tank, well levels, monitored pressures in our system and the trucks in use as well as changing a few gate valve positions to facilitate the optimal water flow to this area and were in constant contact with the Fire commanders on the scene.

Staffing was remained in constant contact to make necessary adjustments to maintain tank levels. The treatment facility and the other two wells were able to maintain this water flow/use without the added use of booster pumps.

The sprinkler pipes inside the Tweave building that connected the fire loop and subsequent private hydrants were out of service because the fire service piping froze and split during the winter of 2018/2019. The water main loop around the building, building sprinkler system and water loop fire hydrants closer to the building were off after this damage was done as they are all tied together on this site. The owner of the property is responsible for any repairs and they were never made. The distribution fire hydrants the Fire Department used are maintained by the Norton water Department and worked as designed.

We again want to thank all responding Towns for assisting in this major fire and are thankful no one was hurt. We are also very proud and thank our staff for the way this fire was managed by the Water Department in regards to flow and pressure, monitoring, and working well with commanders of this major fire on site until the fire was under control.

We hope this did not cause any issues with residents' water quality but if it did and has not cleared please contact the Water Department at 508-285-0280.

Thank you, Norton Water & Sewer Commission

This press release was produced by the Town of Norton. The views expressed here are the author’s own.