Fire At Vermont Soapworks Quickly Extinguished By Firefighters

By Mike Cameron

photo provided

A Wednesday evening blaze, June 4, 2014 at Vermont Soapworks on Exchange street in Middlebury was contained and extinguished by the quick action of Middlebury and area volunteer firefighters.  The fire was confined in one of the production areas of the popular soap business.
    Firefighters were alerted at about 8:45 p.m. and were on scene quickly with back-up units from neighboring towns, in position to help if needed.
Firefighters report that they were able to knock down the flames after a short battle and keep the fire from spreading to a nearby showroom and other production areas in the rectangular shaped complex.
Vt. Soap Officials told the Voice that nothing was out of place when the production crew secured from work earlier that evening. All of the safety and security factors were checked over before the building was locked in anticipation of the next days business.
    On Thursday morning members of the Vermont State Fire Marshals were on scene attempting to determine the cause of the blaze.   
    Later in the day the exact cause of the fire remained undetermined but it was being called not suspicious by fire officials.  
    Some members of Vermont Soapworks arrived for work Thursday morning shocked to see what had happened overnight.  Others had heard about the fire via friends and social media shortly after firefighters arrived Wednesday evening.  
    After fire investigators concluded their work, Soapworks employees and management went right to work on the clean up in the damaged sections of the business.  By mid-morning, the clean-up project was well underway.  Power was in the process of being restored and the assessment of total damage was on-going.  
    No one was reported injured in the blaze.  Departments from Middlebury, New Haven, Weybridge, and Cornwall provided primary and mutual aid support in fighting the fire.
   Friday morning the Vt. Soapworks retail store was open for business once again and the fire damage was  being repaired.  Vermont Soapworks  was planning to resume shipping to their customers by Monday, June
9th 2014.