Peterborough Dunkin’ Donuts employees act to stop fire

Peterborough Fire & Rescue crews respond to an electrical fire at the Grove Street Dunkin’ Donuts Thursday morning.

Peterborough Fire & Rescue crews respond to an electrical fire at the Grove Street Dunkin’ Donuts Thursday morning. —STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID ALLEN

Dunkin Donuts’ employee Sara Lybbert switched off the circuit breaker at the first sign of the fire.

Dunkin Donuts’ employee Sara Lybbert switched off the circuit breaker at the first sign of the fire. —STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID ALLEN

Dunkin’ Donuts employee Sara Lybbert had to turn away customers until the store reopened.

Dunkin’ Donuts employee Sara Lybbert had to turn away customers until the store reopened. —STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID ALLEN

By DAVID ALLEN

Monadnock Ledger Transcript 

Published: 01-16-2025 12:06 PM

Quick thinking by employees helped to extinguish an electrical fire at the Grove Street Dunkin’ Donuts in Peterborough Thursday morning. 

Peterborough Fire & Rescue received a call at 7:58 a.m. for a fire at an electrical outlet.

“It was an outlet fire,” said Peterborough Chief Ed Walker at the scene. “The staff inside heard a snap and crackling coming from it. They pulled the plug of the appliance out, and someone used a fire extinguisher. They also killed the power. It went out when they killed the power.”

Employee Sara Lybbert switched off the circuit breaker as soon as the sounds and smoke from the outlet were evident.

“We’re trained to do that first thing in such cases,” said Lybbert, adding that an oven had been plugged into the source.

Store manager Martha Palmer said a customer grabbed a fire extinguisher to put out the fire at the outlet. She did not identify the individual. 

“My crew was awesome.The store was not in danger,” said Palmer, adding that an electrician was already scheduled to be on site that morning on another matter. The electrician replaced the outlet that was sparking and the store, which was evacuated two hours earlier, reopened at about 10 a.m..

“We’re up and running again,” said Palmer when reached just after 10.

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Asked about the store’s goods, which are in significant quantities during the breakfast hours, Lybbert said that they would all be thrown out. 

“They were exposed to a fire extinguisher being discharged, so everything goes,” she said.