Vacant New Hampshire Factory Damaged by Fire

A five-alarm fire damaged nearly 20 percent of a 98,000-square-foot factory building Sunday night in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

The fire at the former W.W. Cross manufacturing plant stretched into the early hours of Monday. In a massive mutual aid response, firefighters organized tanker trucks from 20 communities to keep a constant supply of water handy at the scene, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript reports.

A press release issued by the New Hampshire Fire Marshal’s office asked for information from the public to aid the investigation into the cause of the fire. Authorities said the building is frequented by the homeless seeking shelter.

W.W. Cross, a company that made carpet tacks, moved to Jaffrey in 1873 after a fire destroyed its original plant in Massachusetts. The original Jaffrey plant burned in 1915 but was rebuilt, then moved to its current location in the 1950s.

Now vacant, the plant was under consideration for redevelopment.