Star Market Withdraws Storage Permit Request Following Major Cardboard Warehouse Fire-July 29, 1981

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Star Market will stop storing recycled cardboard at its University Avenue warehouse as soon as the area is fully cleaned up from a major fire that caused more than twenty thousand dollars in damage last Thursday. Star Market officially withdrew its request for a special permit to continue the open storage of baled cardboard during last night’s Zoning Board of Appeal hearing.

Satellite Warehouse Manager Michael Fine asked for a temporary extension on the current permit—originally issued in December 1980—to allow the remaining cardboard to be sold off and the site thoroughly cleaned. Chairman Philip W. Riley stated that the board would view the site Saturday morning before reaching a final decision. Star Market‘s permit is officially scheduled to expire on August 10. Michael Fine explained that the company was already on the verge of selling the 850 to 900 tons of cardboard stored at the warehouse when the blaze suddenly occurred. He remarked that the fire expedited us in getting rid of it, noting that the cardboard was originally stored there due to a depressed recycling market the previous year. Almost all of the remaining bales can still be sold, Michael Fine added.

The intense fire, which required both the Norwood and Canton fire departments more than twelve hours to extinguish, involved one million pounds of stacked cardboard. During the grueling operation, over one million gallons of water were utilized to both control the flames and wet down the massive bales, according to Fire Chief Thomas J. Barry Jr. in a formal letter submitted to the selectmen. Fire Chief Thomas J. Barry Jr. estimated that fighting the blaze cost the department $1,800 and noted that the fire was considered of suspicious origin.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger