The Norwell Fire Department and nearby towns responded to a fire at the Zildjian cymbal factory.
According to the company website, Zildjian has been making instruments since 1623. The headquarters is based in Norwell, producing cymbals, drumsticks, and percussion mallets under the Zildjian, Vic Firth, and Balter brands. Cymbals are made at the Norwell facility.
Fire Chief Jeff Simpson says multiple 9-1-1 calls reported the fire around 8:48 p.m. Monday night.
“There was a fire in the ventilation system, it’s a pretty extensive ventilation system with multiple filters,” said Simpson. “The system itself, it collects dust, the dust is made up of a special compound that they use to polish the cymbals.”
Terry Hohenleitner, a senior operator, says about 30 people were in the factory at the time of the fire.
“There was a lot of smoke coming out the vents and flames,” said Hohenleitner. “Everybody got out as quick as they could.”
Simpson says their department was under-staffed Monday night, so a special call was made for a Rockland ladder truck to respond.
Hingham and Hanover responded to the scene, Scituate provided station coverage.
“Unfortunately, the way that the fire spread, it created a smoke condition on the opposite side of the building because of the pressure differences in the building. We had a significant smoke condition on one side of the building and we had a fire condition on the other side of the building,” said Simpson. “It was rather intense for a few minutes. We did have a sprinkler activation inside the building. We had high temperatures. Whenever you’re dealing with temperatures and equipment that create heat of over 2,300 degrees, you have to be extremely careful. Especially in a process that deals with molten metal.”
It took about 40 minutes to knock down the heavy fire, and crews were on scene for an extended period of time.
Simpson says there are no injuries, but the extent of damage is unclear at this point.
The Rockland, Hingham, and Hanover Fire Departments responded to the scene, Scituate provided station coverage. Photo credit: Lenny Rowe.
