Inter-Royal Mill Fire last night (4/26)

[Megster]

The Inter-Royal Mill in Plainfield CT burned last night. It had been empty since 1986, though someone had been storing dangerous chemicals in it in the 1990's.

I live about 7 miles north of the mill and my grandfather used to work there in the 50's.

Anyway, last night we saw tons of firetrucks heading out and decided to follow them, and we could smell smoke even as far away as we were.  The Norwich Bulletin said the smoke could be seen 20 miles away, and debris was falling on rooftops as far away as Wauregan (and I live in "West Wauregan).  

Sorry about the bluriness on some of these--had no tripod and had to zoom like a mofo so here's the best ones!  

I also took a video-which oddly is the best thing I got, but it's 5MB and I have no place to host it.  








I'll be heading back down there later today to take pictures of the ruins, and will post them here!

(I'm having problems with my website, so it won't be updated for quite some time.)

[Photohunter]

Cool pics.
I heard the nearby residents are having issues with toxic fumes.
I watched Malden Mills in Mass. burn for 3 days. I will never forget that.

[Megster]

Thanks!

The fire is almost out now.  Everybody is freaking out about asbestos in the air and landing in their yards.

Maiden Mills must've been huge to burn for three days!  The only other mill fire I have seen (Baltic Mill) was put out in a couple hours and was pretty much already out by the time I got there.  

Here's more pics from today!

[skully]

That's strange.  The old historic Phenix Mill in Warwick, RI burnt down last month.   A couple of us from IB used to hang out there often, sometimes (in a dare) ringing the huge bell in the tower.  Too bad these old places are ruined.  Stresses how important it is to get pics.  Megster,  email me the movie file (skully at insanebunkers.com) and I'll host it.  Thanks for the scoop.

http://departments.firehouse.com/content/a...nId=46&id=40598

[Photohunter]

Malden Mills was packed with 175 years of textile dust and hazardous chemicals of all kinds.
It was a time bomb. Some rumors suggest that it was intentionally set because it was the only alternative. The fire was set at a time when there was barely any employes in the building and no one was injured.
Here is an interesting picture of the aftermath.

[skully]

Here's Megster's video.  Thanks again Megster for the media.  

http://insanebunkers.com/movies/InterRoyal...ire04262005.MOV

[Megster]

Skully: I didn't know about the Phenix Mill--I used to drive by there all the time!  Wow.  What a mess.  Have they cleaned it up yet or are the ruins still there?  When the Baltic Mill burned here in CT they didn't knock down the stone skeleton for almost a year, so if the Phenix shell is there I'd like to take a drive over to see it.

Consider the video sent!  Hope you like it.   Thanks a million :)

Photohunter: Your description of Malden Mills reminds me of the Revere Mill fire in Sterling CT in 1980.  I hadn't even been born yet when it happened, but that fire was set so the owner could collect insurance on it.  And since it was the primary employer in the town, the town died when it burned.  It was a big old 170-year-old textile mill.  When I was little the bus used to drive by the ruins every day until they finally knocked them down in 1993.  Too bad I don't have pictures of them.  If you went to the site today you would never know any mill was there, much less that it was the center of town.  

[Photohunter]

The owner of the company paid wages and health insurance to all of his out of work employes for the entire time of reconstruction. He also donated equipment to every fire company involved in the fire.
The new facility was built. It is clean, safe, and architecturally impressive.
Unfortunately no good dead goes unpunished and due to his generosity he has been on the verge of bankruptcy (personal and professional) ever since.
Now 10 years later he still has 93% of the of the original employees from the time of the fire. The company has held on by a thread and is (at least for now) the top manufacturer of Polertec Fleece. Although he can no longer compete with Asian markets and having lost much of his financial control he is ultimately going to loose the company.
In a time when corporate greed can take down a company in an instant, leaving all the employees to go down with the ship, I take my hat off to a person who lost everything trying to save a town, a company, and all it's employees.

[Megster]

That's absolutely amazing!  As you can imagine, the owner of the Revere Mill was sent to jail once it was determined that he set the blaze.  And everyone got screwed--people were out of work for months.  About 5 years later the industrial park road was built right next to the site, but it doesn't have businesses that employ that many people.  The town's population dropped from 2000 something to almost 800 within two years because everyone had to relocate for work.

But it's been 25 years since the fire, and now we have the casinos, so the population is now up to 3000 with a huge housing boom.