A Fall River mill fire is making headlines this weekend. It took more than 100 Massachusetts firefighters to extinguish the flames in the factory, which is quite old.
The mill fire in Fall River, Massachusetts is currently under investigation and is deemed suspicious by authorities. On Saturday at around 3 a.m., more than 100 firefighters from Somerset, Swansea, Freetown, and Westport Fire Departments rushed to an old mill made of wood located in Weaver Street, Massachusetts.
Fall River District Fire Chief Doug Sullivan, who led the fight against the massive blaze, said the elements were against them. He explained that first of all, the vacant mill, which is used for storage, was over a hundred years old, and it rapidly started to fall apart. The firefighters were filmed battling heavy flames coming out of 8 large windows. The fire expert revealed:
“The building is entirely made of wood on the interior and wood that may have been oil-soaked and had machinery in it for 100 years, that leads to a very fast-moving, hot fire.”
Secondly, there were no working sprinklers in the mill and the authorities were aware of the problem. In the summer of 2015, two firefighters were injured battling a fire at the same mill after it was struck by lightning, during this incident they discovered it had no sprinkler. The fire official said:
“We’ve had problems with this mill before.There are no sprinklers to this mill, so there were no sprinklers to feed (to) to put out this fire.”
Fall River District Chief Jeffrey Bacon added that no one was hurt in the fire and that crews will be on scene for days. He went on to say:
“There were a lot of things that can burn in that building it was stacked floor to ceiling in a lot of areas.”
Kevin Thibeault, a Massachusetts resident, who has equipment stored in a nearby building, told local media that he was shocked by what he saw. He confessed:
“Oh, it was crazy…very crazy. (The) flames were higher than the buildings, almost catching the building in the back of it on fire.”
Scott Massa, of Fall River, who watched the fire from his home, said:
“It was insane. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I’m just glad nobody got hurt.”
Bacon said that it is too early to know what caused the fire and investigators will have to wait for the rubble to cool before starting their work. The fire remains under investigation.
