Sprinklers Help Contain Industrial Oven Fire at Rochester Facility

October 9, 2025

By: Scanner Alerts Media Group

An alarm activation at Thompson Investment Casting on Old Dover Road quickly escalated into a working fire Thursday afternoon, but a fast interior attack and the building’s sprinkler system kept the damage limited and no injuries were reported.

Rochester Public Safety Dispatch received the initial call at approximately 2:44 p.m. for a manual pull-station activation at 41 Old Dover Road. With some units already tied up on an unrelated gas-odor investigation elsewhere in the city, the on-duty shift commander (Car 4) directed Engine 2 and Truck 6 to the alarm while Engine 4 continued to the gas call.

Within two minutes, a water-flow alarm from the same property came in, followed by a 911 report of a fire involving one of the facility’s ovens. Engine 2 and Car 4 arrived to find heavy black smoke venting from an overhead door of the single-story commercial structure.

A first-alarm assignment was requested, bringing mutual aid from Dover, Somersworth, and Barrington. Station coverage was provided by Milton and Farmington at Rochester Station 1, and by Berwick, Maine, at Station 2.

Crews advanced a 1½-inch hose line for an aggressive interior attack, knocking down the fire in the area of a burnout oven. The blaze was contained to the immediate area with minimal structural damage. The building’s sprinkler system activated and helped confine the fire until firefighters arrived. Utilities to the involved equipment were secured during overhaul.

All mutual-aid companies were released shortly after the incident was declared under control. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by Rochester Fire Marshal Adam Hughes.

Credit: Rochester Fire Department