Three-Alarm Fire Burns For Hours

[Emtmom]

They just called out for more FF's! It's 11:36 now.

Three-Alarm Fire Burns For Hours
Authorities Shut Down Roads, Stop Trains

POSTED: 6:37 pm EDT July 16, 2006
UPDATED: 11:33 pm EDT July 16, 2006

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. -- A three-alarm fire early Sunday evening continued to burn through the overnight hours.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Katy Zachry reported the fire has burned through an abandoned mill complex with massive flames and smoke. The smoke from the fire could be seen miles away from the south via Channel 3's Hartford City Cam.

Zachry reported that a police officer on routine patrol spotted the flames. More than 30 fire departments from Connecticut and Massachusetts responded to the fire scene along Main Street near Interstate 91, just miles away from Bradley International Airport.

"We were here right away, the fire was fully involved, fire blowing out every window, every door," Warehouse Point Fire District Chief James Barton said. "It's an extensive operation, a lot of equipment, a lot of guys. We're switching guys in and out for rehabilitation; it's a hot day."

Firefighters were able to contain the flames to the mill buildings on the complex by late Sunday evening; however, the fire was ongoing through 11 p.m.

Zachry reported that all of the buildings affected were slated for leveling as part of a condominium project.

As soon as firefighters are able to extinguish the blaze, authorities will begin to investigate a cause.

Roads Shut Down, Trains Stopped Due To Fire

As a result of the fire, police have closed area roads that include Route 159 and the Route 140 bridge into Windsor Locks. Those roadways are expected to remain closed through midday Monday.

The fire was so close to the Windsor Locks Amtrak station, that all trains were stopped for several hours. Eyewitness News spoke to travelers stranded from their northbound trains in Hartford.

No trains were allowed in or out of Windsor Locks, and some travelers awaiting trains there formed carpools to get to Hartford. Amtrak had arranged buses for passengers stuck on northbound trains for hours.

Amtrak plans to run trains again on Monday, but no trains will stop at the Windsor Locks station until the emergency operation has concluded.

The airport was not affected by the fire or smoke. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection will monitor air quality because there was asbestos in the building, and they will also test the Connecticut River for potential runoff from the fire.

[Emtmom]

07/17/2006
Fire ravages vacant mill
By Luke Foster , Journal Inquirer
http://www.journalinquirer.com

WINDSOR LOCKS - Two buildings on the site of the Montgomery Co. mill complex were destroyed by fire late Sunday, and the state fire marshal's office was to begin investigating the cause today.

The main building, which a developer has proposed converting to condominiums, was not damaged, First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. said today.

Firefighters were called to the scene between 4:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. when a
police officer on Main Street saw the fire and called it in, Wawruck said.

Overnight there were a few flare-ups, which firefighters kept dousing with water, Wawruck said.

About 30 fire departments responded to the fire at one time or another, Wawruck said. They came from the surrounding areas, as well as some from Massachusetts and as far away as Burlington and Cromwell.

When the buildings collapsed, there were 13 firefighters and two trucks on the north side of the property, Wawruck said. They were isolated for some time but not hurt.


No one was injured in the blaze, Wawruck said.

Fire officials could not be reached for comment this morning.
The state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were on the scene to test the air and water for any chemicals, Wawruck said.

Anyone with any debris from the blaze in his or her yard is asked to call the town's Emergency Operations Center at 627-1400 so the DEP can take samples and test them, Wawruck said.

The Montgomery mill buildings are situated near Bridge Street on an island between the canal and the Connecticut River.

The bridge on Route 140 - which connects East Windsor and Windsor Locks - and Route 159 between Elm and Spring streets were closed and were not expected to open until at least 4 p.m. today, police Chief John Suchocki said.

Amtrak service was opened only for passengers this morning, with freight train traffic expected to reopen at midday at the earliest, Wawruck said.

The main mill building was a cotton mill in the 1870s and later was used to manufacture tinsel metal products, such as Brillo pads, until the late 1980s, according to Mickey Danyluk, a local historian.

Mountain View Equities LLC, a Brooklyn-based developer, wants to convert the main building into 127 condominiums. The two buildings that burned were slated for demolition.

In June, the Planning and Zoning Commission had approved changing the zone from industrial to residential to pave the way for the building to be converted to apartments. But several commission members expressed concern over the lack of access for emergency vehicles to the site.
Thomas Fahey, a lawyer for the developer, could not be reached for comment about the future of the project today.

There have been several attempts to renovate the buildings over the years, including earlier plans to turn them into residences, though none were successful.

The building has been vacant since 2004, when the then-owner forced all the businesses there to vacate.

Danyluk said he saw flames and a heavy, black smoke rise from the complex Sunday afternoon.

He said the northernmost building on the site, which was one of those that burned, was where 30,000 rifles were manufactured for the Union army during the Civil War.

Another building, the Horton foundry, was an industrial building dating back to the 1850s, Danyluk said.

"That's where the history was in that complex," he said.