Fire destroys abandoned mill in Woonsocket

WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WLNE) — Crews in Woonsocket spent most of the morning dealing with a massive fire at an abandoned mill on Privilege Street.

Plumes of off-color smoke are all that’s left of a fire that turned a multi-acre chemical mill into a pile of rubble.

“I figured they were gonna tear it down, but I didn’t expect it to be a fire,” said John Lamoureux, a resident who lives around the corner from the mill.

Crews got the call around midnight for a structure fire on Privilege Street, the site of an abandoned chemical mill that’s been top of mind for staff for years.

“So our concern was just it being such a large structure with the chemicals that were in here before, and being empty now, that the possibility is always there that it could lead to a fire at some point. All of the big buildings are a concern to us, especially the uninhabited ones,” said Fire Chief Bob Cahill.

Cahill says in the past few weeks they’ve had the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and police clear out the chemicals that had been left in the building, and people who were staying inside.

He also says they believe the odd color of the smoke is from the roofing material, but they did have hazmat on scene to be sure.

“Well where I used to work, we used to get our chemicals from there. But I’m not too concerned about it because I think it was pretty well cleaned out,” said resident Robert Hayes.

“I think the rain is going to keep it under control, which helps,” he said.

“My child is right around the corner. So hopefully it’s nothing too contagious or harmful,” said Lamoureux.

Initially, power was shut down in the area but crews were able to restore it to nearby homes Monday morning.

Crews remained on scene to check for any hotspots.

There were no injuries from the fire, according to fire officials.

Looking forward, the Woonsocket Fire Marshall will finish inspecting the building, then they’ll work on clearing out debris from the road, before they work to get a crew to clear out the rest of the structure.

A fire burned through an abandoned mill on 20 Privilege Street in Woonsocket on July 29, (WLNE).