By Christopher Cartwright
The Keene Sentinel
TROY, NM.H. — A three-alarm fire broke out at the former Troy Mills complex on Monadnock Street shortly after midnight Monday morning.
The N.H. State Fire Marshal’s Office was on the scene Monday morning. Troy fire officials could not be reached for further information.
One firefighter was taken to Cheshire Medical Center in Keene to be treated for minor injuries, according to a Facebook post by the Troy Fire Department on Tuesday.
The property is under renovation by owner Christopher Eric Farris to become housing and commercial space.
“The fire grew quite dramatically until the fire departments could get set up, but appears to have stayed in a small portion of the complex where it started,” Farris wrote in an email to The Sentinel Monday morning. “I await further information later today as to the cause and extent of the damage.”
The fire was called in at 12:18 a.m., Mutual Aid said. In addition to Troy firefighters, the Dublin, Fitzwilliam, Jaffrey, Keene, Marlborough, Richmond, Rindge, Swanzey, Winchester, and Royalston and Winchendon, Mass., fire departments and Cheshire EMS responded to the scene, while the Ashby, Mass., fire department helped cover Troy’s station.
Fire Chief Mark Huntoon said Tuesday that a section of the third floor, which he estimated to be around 50 feet by 70 feet, was “gutted out” and there was water damage beneath it.
“That portion of the building is pretty much a total loss,” he said, adding that an investigation into the cause is ongoing.
He added that the first engine was on the scene within 10 minutes and water was being put on the fire within 12 minutes.
Farris said the area the fire started in had not been worked on since “well before the holidays.”
“The site is clean and generally free of readily combustible materials,” he said. "... The structure is and was uninsurable without occupancy/fire protection so there is no coverage for whatever damage has occurred.”
He said the building’s sprinkler system is not active due to a dispute with the town of Troy.
In documents filed in Cheshire County Superior Court beginning in September, Farris alleged the town has not established a sewer and water connection to his building as promised.
The Troy Mills property at 30 Monadnock St. is made up of factory buildings constructed between 1920 and 1995 following the closure of an earlier mill on the site that made horse blankets during the Civil War for Union soldiers. Later, the mill produced vehicle fabrics for automakers like Toyota and Ford. Troy Mills closed in 2001, with its operator filing for bankruptcy two years later.
The town of Troy acquired the property through back taxes and, in 2021, sold part of the complex to Farris.
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