THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611020399
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Metro briefs
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 26 lines
Thomas J. Lipton Inc. officials are still investigating a fire last Friday that disrupted production for more than two days.
No one was injured, but the fire caused heavy smoke damage to the 41-year-old tea-making facility, which reopened Sunday at 11 p.m.
The fire started in a dust collector, a two-story metal bin, in the blending department, said Lt. A.J. Barrett, the city's assistant fire marshal. He said the cause is undetermined.
Lipton's fire insurance inspector and corporate safety officer came to the plant on West Washington Street this week to investigate.
The fire broke out just after 2 p.m., soon after a weekly test of the plant's emergency fire pump systems, said Plant Manager Ralph R. Roberts.
``It was so close to the end of the test that some people thought it was still going on,'' Roberts said this week.
A test is announced by a blowing horn, but a fire alarm is indicated by a continuous ringing of a bell, Roberts said. Once the fire was detected and the alarm sounded, all employees were safely and quickly evacuated, he said.
KEYWORDS: FIRE INVESTIGATION by CNB