« Update: Coventry eatery closes; Health investigates | Today | Guida's chocolate milk recalled »

March 29, 2007

Fire Chief: Pawtucket mill fire suspicious

PAWTUCKET -- Investigators consider the fire yesterday that raced through a Pawtucket Mill building suspicious, Pawtucket Fire Chief Tim McLaughlin said today.

"When you have an empty building with no electricity or other services in it, and it burns that way at 8:30 in the morning, right away we deem it suspicious," McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said the fire appears to have begun at a back stairway of the building.

Investigators found multiple starting points, according to Lt. Jeffrey Johnson, of the Pawtucket Fire Marshal's Office.

The fire was contained to the second floor of the two-story, 55,901-square-foot building, but the fire spread quickly through the second floor since there were few partitions dividing the space, according to Johnson.

McLaughlin praised the Pawtucket and Central Falls firefighters for preventing the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.

McLaughlin said neighbors have said vagrants have used the building, which is at Conant and Pine streets.

The building is owned by a Wellesley, Mass., Co., the Standard Management Corporation.

The building doesn't appear to be a total loss and will be boarded up, according to officials.

Read today's story.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

Posted by Jack Perry  at 2:45 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)