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General News: Fire Smolders As Its Cause Still Unknown
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| Firefighters were still putting out hot spots Wednesday morning. |
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| The shell of the building that once housed the packing company. |
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| Juan Serrano points to the area where the scenic shop once operated. |
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| The interior of the complex on Wednesday. |
January 18, 2012
By Nancy Peckenham
The FBI has joined state, county and local police and fire investigators as they try to determine the cause of the fire that destroyed huge portions of the Cornwall Industrial Park earlier this week. Meanwhile, firefighters were still on the scene Wednesday morning to put out hot spots that flared up inside the smoldering ruins. Excavator Bob Callahan knocked down the remains of some of the buildings with heavy equipment as part of the firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the remains of the fire.
Cornwall police chief Todd Hazard said that he and other investigators have interviewed people who were at the property at 2 Mill Street when the fire broke out, including a couple who was there dismantling a tank in the rear of the complex. Authorities have not announced any findings about where, or how, the blaze started.
Joe Longabardi, the manager of the buildings, said he met with police and FBI agents Wednesday morning and shared his observations about pieces of steel that he said appeared to have been removed from the roof recently. Eyewitnesses at the scene when the fire broke out said that it appeared to have started on the roof of the building that was home to Superior Pack Group before it was forced out by the floods caused by Tropical Storm Irene last August.
Business Owners Assess Damage As Fire Smolders
Longabardi oversees the 70-acre property for owner Isaac Landau, who he said has not been onsite unless he made a quick “in and out” visit. “He’s pretty depressed,” Longabardi said of his boss.
Other business owners visited the smoldering ruins Wednesday morning to see what was left of their property. Moses Rubin drove back to see what remained of Homestar Baking, a kosher bakery that he has managed for 15 years.
Juan Serrano peered inside the shell of a building where Scenic Art Studio used to occupy the second floor, above the packing warehouse. He recalled how before he left on Friday he carefully covered up a scenic backdrop being created for the New York City Ballet. “This is the shop I worked in for 12 years,” Serrano said, “It is so hard to see this.”
Longabardi had nothing good to say about the owner of the Superior Pack Group, who left behind tons of candy and packing materials after the flood. Longabardi said he took out 20 tons of candy left behind and that the packing company was removing some of the remaining cardboard to sell to recyclers when the fire hit.
Demolition of Ruins in Near Future
The complex manager also said that he expected to get the job of demolishing the remains of the buildings destroyed in the fire. Meanwhile, Cornwall building inspector Gary Vinson was working to declare the buildings unfit, paving the way for their removal.
The cost of fighting the fire, which involved 150 to 200 firefighters from 18 companies has yet to be tallied, said Cornwall fire chief Patrick Hines. His assistant chief, Tave Graham, who was on scene Wednesday with crews from the Air National Guard fire unit at Stewart Air Base and from Salisbury Mills and Highland Engine Companies, said the amount of water used to fight the fire was tremendous, noting that 20,000 gallons had been spent to put out hot spots that morning alone.
Comments:
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I always find it sad when an old historical building is destroyed either by aging and inattention, new development, or fire. The FBI is now joining the investigation, and this cannot be without some reasonable doubt that the fire was intentional. My first thought was that it was set. The trigger for that thought was the article on the front page of Friday's Times-Herald Record. The property manager laments that one company whose business was devastated by Hurricane Irene and relocating to Monroe was eligible for federal aid while the owner paid for the cleanup of the that business' debris. He felt that they should be reimbursed for the cleanup. Two days later there's a fire. Even though there may be no connection, that sure made think the fire was intentionally set.
posted by Sharen A. Pacenza on 01/19/12 at 7:14 AM
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