A fiery end to an era for old mill

[ Originally published on: Monday, May 28, 2007 ]

TURNERS FALLS -- People traveled throughout the day Sunday on the bike path along the Power Canal to get a look at what's left of a local landmark.

A fire that started early Saturday morning destroyed two sections of the old Strathmore Paper mill and more than 40 hours later firefighters continued to spray water on piles of rubble left from the collapse of two of the mill's buildings. The piles continued to re-ignite.

'It's been overwhelming,' said Turners Falls Fire Capt. John Zellmann. 'I'm hoping, though, that we can clear the scene completely by dark tonight (Sunday).'

A bright orange glow illuminated the night sky just after 2 a.m. Saturday, around the time the fire was called in to the fire station. By 8 a.m., a thick pall of acrid smoke hung over Turners Falls. According to one Amherst firefighter, the glow from the conflagration could be seen from Interstate 91 driving north.

Firefighters from more than 20 towns and two states were called to help fight the blaze. Zellmann Sunday evening had not determined how many firefighters fought the blaze over the two-day period.

Zellmann said, to his knowledge, no one was hurt, except maybe with very minor injuries.

Visibly exhausted Sunday, one firefighter rested on Canal Street in the shade of a tree while another took a short nap on the back of a small tractor. Then it was back to the business at hand.

A backhoe began digging through the rubble while firefighters kept a constant stream of water on the piles and although the smell of smoke had dissipated, a faint odor could still be detected beyond Canal Street.

Helen and Paul Deskavich of Turners Falls walked along the bike path, expressing a little grief.

'It's sad to see a place that once employed so many local people go up in flames,' said Helen Deskavich, 79. 'I've lived here my entire life and (Strathmore) has always been there. I grew up with it there. I never expected this.'

The couple said they aren't sure what to think about how the fire started.

'It's the end of an era,' said Wayne Lacey of Montague Center, who Sunday afternoon biked along the path with his 6-year-old daughter, Alexis.

'I'm glad no one got really hurt,' Alexis said.

Joseph Parzych of Gill said he thinks the fire was accidental.

'Why would someone want to do something like this on purpose?'

Parzych, 78, began working at Strathmore when he was 15 years old.

'My folks worked there, too,' he said. 'That mill supported half of Turners Falls. I was looking forward to what they were planning to do with it.'

Most recently there had been reports that a television and film production company was looking to buy the property. Swift River Group was reported to have signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with the mill's current owner, Western Properties LLC of Boston.

The 136-year-old, 244,482-square-foot former paper mill is located between the power canal and the Connecticut River.

According to fire officials, there were two people in the building when the fire started, the owner and a female friend. Both got out without injury.

While some speculated about the cause of the fire, Turners Falls Fire Chief Raymond Godin said on Saturday there was no evidence to suggest arson.

'We are looking into everything that we can. I went over the area with the inspectors from the fire marshal's office and we will collect evidence and make a determination,' said Godin.

Zellmann said Sunday evening a cause had still not been determined.

Firefighters approached the scene from both the road along the canal and a condemned footbridge from Canal Street. They fought the flames any way they could, including perching atop a small mountain of brick and rubble and crouching upon the burned remains of a vehicle.

Despite the difficulty of the work, firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to more of the tightly packed buildings along the narrow spit of land and officials from the state fire marshal's office, who Saturday were at the scene, praised them for how quickly the fire had been contained.

Police officers Saturday said the blaze seems to have started on the river side of the building.

Neighbors, who were awakened by noise from the fire, said that they heard a series of explosions shortly after 3 a.m.

'There were gas cans in there, so it would not be unusual to hear explosions,' a police spokesman said.

Laurie Lapointe of Greenfield Sunday watched firefighters from the bike path.

'It's just weird seeing the old buildings come down,' she said. 'I drive by them all the time. It's awfully suspicious, though. I've heard other people say that, too.'

Debris in the river

In addition to the immediate problem of the fire, debris from the collapsing buildings fell into the river and a hazardous materials task force coordinated by the Attorney General's Office was called in to limit the effects of pollution in the Connecticut River.

The hazmat response was triggered early in the day by a large oil slick and a sheen of other chemicals that was seen flowing downstream from the site of the collapsed building.

Environmental Police officer David Kinner said that Maxymillian Technologies of Pittsfield was brought in to mitigate the damage to the river.

'They are planning to launch a boat and angle a boom across the river to channel most of the debris back inshore,' he said. 'That building is over 100 years old; who knows what kind of stuff might be in there?'

Saturday morning a rain of ash fell steadily over the center of town and streaks of black and gray were smeared across the sidewalks where people had shuffled through the burned material. No one at the scene was prepared to comment on how the rain of ash might affect people.

Streets leading from Avenue A to Canal Street were closed until after 5 p.m. Sunday. Mountain Road, which travels from Greenfield to the bridges that span the river and canal, was also reopened.

According to the operations chief at the incident command post on Canal Street, the fire companies that responded to the emergency Saturday morning included Turners Falls, Montague Center, Greenfield, Sunderland, Northampton, Easthampton, Southampton, Westhampton, Hadley, Amherst, Whately, Northfield, Brattleboro, Vt., Leverett, Orange, Gill, Erving, Wendell, Deerfield, South Deerfield, Shelburne Center, Shelburne Falls, Bernardston, Leyden, Colrain and Charlemont.

In the afternoon, additional fire companies including Holyoke, Ware, Southwick, Westfield, Springfield, West Springfield, Chicopee, Agawam, Shutesbury, Williamsburg, the state forest fire warden and the state Department of Fire Services Incident Support Unit were brought in to relieve the firefighters on scene.

A team from Davenport Trucking dismantled the huge piles of debris so that water could be poured on the still- burning underlayer. This allowed investigators from the fire marshal's office to get a better look at the remains of the structure.

'People were amazing,' said Zellmann. 'Not just the firefighters, but civilians, the Salvation Army and the jail. They all brought us food and water and coffee and took good care of all of the firefighters. It's nice to have that kind of support.'

 

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