Toast blamed for factory fire

By:KEVIN P. O'CONNOR, Times staff writer

CENTRAL FALLS - Toast that refused to pop started a fire that shut down a factory Monday morning.

AMC Bag Co., 152 Railroad St., was ordered closed at 11 a.m., an hour after Ann Colaluca was chased from the kitchen at the company by the flames that were climbing the walls.

Colaluca put something in the toaster and then left to answer the phone just before 10 a.m., firefighters say. When she returned, minutes later, the pressed cardboard walls behind the kitchen counter were on fire.

"The alarm went off," she said. "When I went to check, the room was on fire.

"I called the fire department and got out of there."

Firefighters with Engine Two pulled up two minutes later to see smoke pouring from the eaves of the building and from the open front door.

Capt. Manny Marques and Firefighters Matt Moulton and Mark Landry were able to get into the business and knock down the flames within seconds. Fire crews that pulled up behind them entered the business to pull down ceiling tiles and rip back wallboard to get at the hotspots in the framing of the building.

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