ADAMS — A slightly elevated level of formaldehyde — but not in concentrations that posed a significant health hazard — was detected in the smoke from a fire that consumed part of the former MacDermid Graphic Arts building Wednesday, according to the state Department of Fire Services.
The fire, which sent smoke billowing from the former manufacturing plant into town and kept firefighters busy most of the day, remains under investigation, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the department. The office of the State Fire Marshal is investigating.
“At this point, it’s too early to say” what might have caused the fire, Wark said. “The damage was catastrophic.”
“Every investigation takes as long as it needs to take,” he added. “This will be a longer one rather than a shorter one.”
The fire, reported at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, kept firefighters and emergency responders from Adams and multiple surrounding towns on the scene for a good 10 hours in chilly, windy conditions.
Smoke from the two-alarm blaze forced nearby Hoosac Valley Elementary School and Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School to send students home shortly after they had arrived. A public safety advisory was issued for people with breathing problems, who were urged to close their windows and stay indoors.
Mutual aid from several departments including North Adams, Lanesborough, Williamstown, Hinsdale aided Adams in fighting the blaze of the facto…
With part of the roof collapsed, firefighters from multiple communities were blocked from getting direct access to the flames inside the sprawling building, which had sustained water damage over the years. Instead, crews attacked the fire from the outside and from up high using ladder trucks.
By 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, the smoke had decreased to a low smolder, with firefighters occasionally spraying water on the building’s remains. Later, an excavator pulled out debris from the building so firefighters could wet it down.
The scene was largely cleared by 5:30 p.m., and the fire watch was called off at about 8 p.m., Adams Fire Chief John Pansecchi said.
The building formerly housed MacDermid Graphics, which made rubber blankets for the printing industry until closing in 2022, and W.R. Grace before that. That history led to concern among Adams residents on social media about what chemicals might still be lingering in the old building, and whether they were contained in the smoke.
Tests conducted by specialists detected slightly elevated levels of formaldehyde near the fire, according to Wark and Pansecchi. But those levels did not pose a health risk, they said, and the levels fell off significantly 10 to 15 feet from the fire.
A bicyclist rides along the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail on Thursday past the scene of a fire that damaged the shuttered MacDermid Graphic Arts factory, formerly W.R. Grace, in Adams. The fire brought in mutual aid from several different fire departments.
“I want to stress this was right at the edge of the fire scene. If you backed up 10 feet you got zero,” Pansecchi said. “It was a small little spike. It’s not abnormal to get that type of reading.”
Wark said the levels were “not in concentrations that pose a significant hazard.”
“At the end of the day smoke is toxic. That’s why smoke inhalation is the primary cause of death in a house fire,” Wark said. “That’s why firefighters wear self-contained breathing apparatus.”
Formaldehyde is a colorless, odorless gas at room temperature, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It can cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, and high levels of exposure may cause some types of cancers.
Formaldehyde is also a common byproduct of burning: You can find it in cigarette smoke, forest fire smoke and car exhaust.
It’s also not yet known if anyone had been inside the 236,000-square-foot complex, which is bordered by the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail on its eastern side.
In a YouTube video taken by a user named “Renegade Nomad” in 2020 and published to the video sharing site Aug. 18, 2023, the narrator said the plant was accessible to someone with the desire to go inside. The narrator describes seeing fresh footprints in the mud that had accumulated inside the building.
The video shows much of the factory remained a time capsule, with machinery and personnel records still left inside. It also showed a great deal of water damage.
The building was purchased by 10 Harmony Street LLC for $53,550 in February 2019, according to records on file with the Berkshire Northern Registry of Deeds. John Duquette Jr., the principal of that firm, did not return a text message seeking comment on Thursday.
Pansecchi hailed the performance of firefighters from Adams and across the county in attacking the fire and keeping it from spreading to the rest of the building, and doing so over a period of hours.
“This could have been a lot worse,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what way it was going to go. We were planning on a long-term operation.”
