Milltown blaze claims Chicopee diaper plant
Neighboring
businesses kept safe
MARIE ORTIZ Firefighters worked for nearly 23 hours to put out a structure fire at the abandoned Chicopee diaper plant, Milltown, Sunday. One hundred fifty firefighters from throughout Middlesex County responded to the call, which was received at 1 a.m. Sunday.
Milltown firefighters received the call at 1 a.m. Sunday. The old Chicopee diaper plant, Ford Avenue and Clay Street, was engulfed in flames.
More than 150 firefighters from around the county also responded to assist in extinguishing the blaze, which was fast burning out of control. It would be almost a day before the fire was out.
"I would say that every town in the county, minus two or so, came to help out," said Assistant Fire Chief Brian Harto.
"We are very appreciative of our neighboring towns for the hours and hours they put in."
At 2 a.m., firefighters cut power to the entire complex so they could work more safely.
Shortly afterward, firefighters noticed excess smoke coming from the top of the building’s two-level roof.
"There was no way for us to get to it," said Harto, "but it needed to be contained or, in all likelihood, it would have spread, creating a much bigger problem."
The roof was made of older wooden beams and wood, said Harto, which are much thicker than today’s beams and more difficult to extinguish once ignited.
MARIE ORTIZ Firefighters worked for nearly 23 hours to put out a structure fire at the abandoned Chicopee diaper plant, Milltown, on Sunday.
In an attempt to keep flames from spreading to an adjacent warehouse, owned by Hermann Warehouse Corp., firefighters immediately began cutting a trench into the building’s roof about 50 feet from where the fire was.
"We dug the entire length of the building, which amounted to nearly 200 feet," said Harto.
"The theory behind this was to stop the fire from spreading further."
Harto also said that a backhoe was brought in to dig an additional 10-foot-wide opening in the ground between the two buildings.
Nearby shop owners were notified of the fire by phone around 3:30 a.m.
The fire was not brought completely under control until around midnight Sunday.
"It was a very long night, and most of the men had to go to work on Monday," said Harto. "But nobody was injured, which is a nice reward for our efforts."
Dominic LeoGrande, owner of Swing Rite Door Manufacturing, keeps shop in the factory building next-door to Chicopee. He was one of the residents notified early Sunday morning.
"There was extensive water damage and some equipment damage," he said. "Also, we had no electricity all day Monday and had to use a generator."
"Other than that, we were pretty lucky," he said.
The 750,000-square-foot Chicopee plant has been unoccupied since 1986. It was formerly a division of Johnson and Johnson.
"If anything had to burn, we were pretty fortunate it was this factory," said Harto. "Residents were far enough away not to be affected and the building was vacant so businesses were not lost."
Cause of the fire has yet to be determined and may remain that way for a few days, according to the Assistant County Prosecutor Ralph Cretella, who is in charge of the arson unit, .
"We haven’t even been able to get into the building yet to conduct our investigation," said Cretella. "So there is absolutely no evidence of any kind to report at this time."
Once the building is deemed safe for entry, Cretella’s team of fire investigators will examine the scene for evidence on how the fire started and burned.
"Fire leaves a pattern," said Cretella. "There are spots showing the heaviest burns and others the lightest. The heaviest burns are usually a good indication of where the fire started.
"Burn patterns help us to determine the cause and origin of the fire."
Arson investigation can take anywhere from a few days to a few months; however, Cretella is optimistic that he’ll have an answer sooner rather than later.
"This is a tedious process. We need to dig through all of the rubble before we can begin searching for patterns on the ground," Cretella said "Still, we hope to be able to get into the building this week, which would speed things up."