PETERBOROUGH-An early morning furnace exhaust system fire Tuesday caused New Hampshire Ball Bearings to temporarily evacuate staff, leaving some shivering employees outside on an unplanned, extended break while others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

According to Peterborough Fire Chief Joe Lenox III, NHBB was partly responsible for the success of quickly quelling the blaze.

"The people at NHBB deserve an 'attaboy.' They turned the machines off, took the necessary precautions, evacuated the building, gave us an emergency 911 call along with the alarm going off...They basically contained the loss before we got there. It was a textbook operation, everything went right on both sides," Lenox said.

Peterborough Fire Department received the call at 9:32 a.m. on Tuesday. "We received an auto-alarm and a backup call for a fire in the duct work," said Lenox. "Upon arrival, they did have some fire between the roof and the ceiling above what I would call the fabricating machine...the big furnaces they have there."

Jaffrey, Rindge and Antrim ambulance services were on the scene quickly as well, conducting checkups on anyone who was in the area when the fire started, according to NHBB Plant Operations Manager Dick Reynells.

Lenox said his department was covered by DiLuzio Ambulance and Dublin and Hancock fire departments while Peterborough and Jaffrey firefighters fought the flames.

Lenox said the Jaffrey Fire Department controlled the smoke, ventilating the building. Firefighters had to pry loose part of the roof to get at the fire, which was mainly concealed within the ceiling.

"We did have a free-burning fire when we got in there. It wasn't a very large or spectacular fire...In order to get to it we needed to get a ventilation cover off the roof. It was a lot of chainsaw work," said Lenox.

Reynells said NHBB does not yet know the exact cause of the fire, but he believed as of Tuesday afternoon it may have had something to do with electricity. "We think there might have been possibly an electrical fan as the source, but we have not completed an autopsy [of the building]," said Reynells.

Reynells said employees discovered the fire, and quickly took appropriate action. "An employee in the general vicinity observed smoke and immediately activated a fire alarm, and one of the department managers called 911. That was very fortuitous. Obviously, in a manufacturing facility like this fire can be very devastating," he said.

According to Lenox, seven people were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, and three more had to be transported to MCH for further treatment. Both Lenox and Reynells said they did not believe there was any reason to think injuries were serious, but they wanted to be on the safe side.

Employees who received treatment had been trying to control the fire early on. "They were in the area when the fire started and administered fire extinguishers to control the flames to the best of their ability," said Reynells. "We wanted to be sure everybody was checked out."

Though neither Lenox nor Reynells had an estimate on financial loss due to the fire, Reynells said it seemed to be minimal, and would not affect operations apart from the two to three hours of work employees lost by being evacuated.

"There wasn't [damage] to any of the machinery. There was an emergency shutdown to the furnace that was tied to the exhaust system, and the operators in the area...have a certain protocol they go through to...render the system inert and assure it cannot contribute in any way to the source of the fire," said Reynells.

The duct work and the immediate roof area nearby will have to be replaced, Reynells said, but little else.

He also praised the work of the firefighters and rescue crews who responded to the fire. "The Fire Department did a very good job in being judicious with water and chemicals and such to put the fire out and not in any way affect any of the equipment," he said. "We are very pleased."

Things returned to normal and operations were resumed throughout the plant before noon. "We are back operational, with the exception of the furnace...We are good to go. We are very fortunate," said Reynells.

Reynells also said he was meeting Tuesday with the President of NHBB, Gary Yomantas. One of the items he planned on discussing with the president was replacing this heating unit, which Yomantas quickly approved.