SOUTHAMPTON — A fire Tuesday destroyed an alarm business on Gunn Road, provoking a multitown response.

“Obviously, it’s a hard time. It’s traumatizing to see everything you’ve built up and worked for burn down,” said Security & Fire Integration owner Brian Hackworth.

Security & Fire Integration’s building at 73 Gunn Road was used as an office and a stockroom. The Fire Department responded early Tuesday morning to a report of fire there.

“I started getting messages and calls that alarms, multiple alarms were going off,” Hackworth said. “I got in my car and started driving down. I drive past the town Fire Department, and the doors were open.”

Hackworth also said that from a half-mile away, “I could see a red-orange glow in the sky, and I knew.”

The fire, which required mutual aid from multiple departments, wiped out the building and its contents. Four company vehicles parked next to the building were also damaged extensively by the heat, although Hackworth said that the company is attempting to salvage them.

 Security systems, access control systems, fire alarms, sound systems, wire, materials, equipment, tool boxes and scissor lifts were some of the items destroyed in the fire.

Hackworth said his family has owned the building for 40 years, and that it has been used for various businesses. He also described the old wood building as a “tinderbox,” and said he got there before the Fire Department, directing them to focus their efforts on the vehicles.

Hackworth emphasized that his business remains open, and that friends have offered office and stockroom space to keep the business going.

“We’re out in the field, all over New England doing jobs,” he said. “I’m definitely going to rebuild and keep working.”

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined and a joint investigation is underway, involving the Southampton Fire Department and the Massachusetts State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Section, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

 

Gazette reporter Bera Dunau contributed to this story. Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.