Firefighters Battle Blaze at High Liner Foods

UPDATED, 10:55 a.m.: A dumpster fire fueled by paper products and plastics sent smoke into the High Liner Foods USA building early Monday morning and took Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine firefighters three hours to put out.

Assistant Portsmouth Fire Chief Steve Achilles said a High Liner Foods USA worker called the fire in via a 9-11 call at 2:30 p.m. and the first crews on scene saw the fire burning in a trash compactor that is attached to the frozen seafood plant located off of Borthwick Avenue. “We are not sure why that happened,” he said.

A working fire was toned out at 2:40 p.m. after the first firefighters saw the smoke was filling up the commercial building. A Kittery Fire engine responded to assist Portsmouth firefighters while a Newington Fire Rescue ambulance provided station coverage, Achilles said.

Achilles said a fire hose was brought inside to attack the blaze and prevent it from spreading into the building. National Wrecker Service then helped Portsmouth firefighters pull the dumpster away from the building so they could extinguish the flames. Achilles said no one was hurt.

Earlier story: Portsmouth firefighters battled a working fire that broke out inside the High Liner Foods USA frozen seafood plant early Monday morning.

According to emergency communications, the fire was reported at about 3 a.m. There were no workers inside the frozen seafood plant because High Liner Foods does not operate a third shift.

Portsmouth Patch will have more information about this story as soon as it becomes available.