Investigators have been unable to determine the cause of a fire that damaged multiple trucks and trailers at a business in Connecticut over the weekend.
The incident happened at around 1 a.m. on Saturday, November 12th at Thurston Foods headquarters in Wallingford, Connecticut.
“I cannot determine the cause of the fire,” said Acting Fire Marshall Brian Schock. “ As far as the origin of the fire, we do believe it began in (the engine of) one of the tractor-trailer trucks,” he told My Record Journal.
The fire spread to several trucks, damaging a total of four rigs and seven trailers. No other substantial property damage was reported.
Thurston Foods CEO Peter Malone says that the company did not face any shipping delays, despite the property damage.
“Because (the fire) happened on a Saturday, and we didn’t ship again until Sunday night for Monday, it gave us a time window to get some tractors in,” Malone said. “In the longer term we’re looking, obviously, to replace all of that equipment, but it really didn’t change anything.”
Malone says that the fire started with a 2018 truck that had been sitting unused for 18 hours and was considered to be in good working condition. While no exact cause has been identified, investigators do not believe the fire was intentional or the result of human error.
“I do not believe the cause of this fire is of intentional nature, but I cannot determine the cause of the fire,” he said, calling the blaze a “sheer fluke.”
“There was no remote hint of vandalism or arson or human error or negligence,” Malone said.
“You can be in business for a thousand years and this might never happen to you. It’s never happened to us before.”