diff --git a/src/REAXFF/reaxff_ffield.cpp b/src/REAXFF/reaxff_ffield.cpp
index 34db1c232d..ac22609317 100644
--- a/src/REAXFF/reaxff_ffield.cpp
+++ b/src/REAXFF/reaxff_ffield.cpp
@@ -583,6 +583,7 @@ namespace ReaxFF {
       } catch (std::exception &e) {
         error->one(FLERR,e.what());
       }
+      fclose(fp);
     }
 
     // broadcast global parameters and allocate list on ranks != 0