By Dan Uhlinger and Arielle Levin Becker
Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 The Hartford Courant Company
WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — A raging fire destroyed two vacant buildings at the old Montgomery Co. mill complex Sunday evening, just weeks after a zoning change was approved that cleared the way for the property to be converted into condominiums.
Firefighters and emergency crews from Windsor Locks and more than 30 surrounding towns fought the general alarm blaze that was reported at 4:50 p.m. by a passing police officer. Smoke from the blaze could be seen from Hartford, about 15 miles away.
“It’s the largest fire in this area in many years,” said Edward Lescoe, a spokesman for the Capitol Region Emergency Planning Committee.
No one was seriously injured, but many firefighters received precautionary treatment for heat exhaustion. Water mists and fans were set up to cool off firefighters who were working in outdoor temperatures that had reached into the 90s.
“The firefighters are doing the best they can, considering the weather. The heat compounds things,” said Daniel F. Riley Sr., chairman of the town’s fire commission.
Firefighters worked for hours to contain the blaze that threatened to spread to the rest of the mill complex, which includes a six-story main building along the Windsor Locks canal.
The cause of the blaze is being investigated, Lescoe said.
Police said about six people were arrested recently and charged with the theft of copper from the mill. There also had been vandalism in the buildings.
Traffic on Main Street in the mill area was closed in both directions, and Amtrak train service between Hartford and Springfield was stopped. The bridge that carries Route 140 across the Connecticut River also was closed.
Selectmen Joe Calsetta and Denise Balboni were at the scene. “We’re just here to see what we can do, maybe open town hall if necessary,” Balboni said.
“It’s a bad day for the weather. We had an umpire go down with heat exhaustion at a game earlier today,” she said.
The vacant site has been considered for a number of uses since the wire-manufacturing operation shut down in 1989, most recently a proposal for a 127-unit condominium complex.
In June, the planning and zoning commission agreed to rezone the area from industrial to residential at the request of the developer, Mountain View Equities. But commission members expressed concerns, including the lack of secondary access for emergency vehicles.
First Selectman Steve Wawruck Jr. said it appeared that the buildings affected by the fire were not the ones being considered for the condominiums. But he said he could not speak about the future of the development.
“What does it mean for the project? That’s something only the developer can answer,” he said.
Asked whether the lack of secondary access affected firefighting efforts, Wawruck said only the fire department could answer. He said tower trucks were shooting water across Main Street onto the complex.
The mill housed the family-owned wire manufacturer Montgomery Co. for 118 years. It closed in 1989 after the company was purchased by a Los Angeles-based corporation that moved the mill’s operations to New Hampshire. The site, which sprawled across 16 buildings, was nominated for national historic status, although it was not pursued after objections from the holding company that owned the complex.
Since the mill closed, several uses have been proposed, including offices, housing, light industry and shops. But development efforts have been plagued by concerns, including worries about the site’s inaccessibility to emergency services.
In 1989, a private developer’s proposal to convert the mill to housing fell through because fire officials said they would not be able to respond in an emergency.
Fire officials recommended building an alternative route for emergency vehicles to reach the facility, and the town in 1994 applied for a grant to build a grade crossing. But the grant application was not selected for funding.