(CG)
WE BEGIN WITH NEW
DEVELOPMENTS ...
IN A MASSIVE FIRE ----
THAT WAS FIRST
BREAKING OVERNIGHT.
INVESTIGATORS NOW SAY
---- THEY'VE DISCOVERED
SUSPECTED DRUG-
MAKING MATERIALS ---
INSIDE THIS FORMER MILL
BUILDING IN PAWTUCKET --
THAT WENT UP IN FLAMES
EARLY THIS MORNING.
IT WAS AN INTENSE AND
DANGEROUS SCENE --
CAUSING PART OF THE
VACANT BUILDING TO
COLLAPSE -- AND LEAVING
ONE PERSON SERIOUSLY
INJURED.
FIREFIGHTERS AND
INVESTIGATORS HAVE
REMAINED ON-SCENE ALL
DAY -- DOUSING HOT
SPOTS, SEARCHING FOR
CLUES, AND MAKING SURE
NO OTHER VICTIMS ARE
STILL INSIDE.
EYEWITNESS NEWS
REPORTER KAIT WALSH
JOINS US LIVE FROM
PAWTUCKET NOW ---- WITH
THE BLACKSTONE VALLEY
MOBILE NEWSROOM.
IT'S NOW BEEN 17 HOURS
SINCE THE FIRE STARTED
EARLY THIS MORNING -
AND CREWS ARE STILL
HERE - INVESTIGATING -
AND CLEARING THE
DEBRIS.
THEY'RE STILL TRYING TO
FIGURE OUT AN EXACT
CAUSE TO THE FIRE - IF
THEY CAN DETERMINE
ONE AT ALL.
YOU CAN ALMOST FEEL THE
HEAT FROM THESE FLAMES IN
THIS VIDEO.
THIS FIRE BURNING SO HOT
THROUGH WHAT WAS
SUPPOSED TO BE A VACANT
MILL BUILDING ON PINE STREET
IN PAWTUCKET - THAT
FIREFIGHTERS COULDN'T EVEN
RISK GOING INSIDE.
"There's nothing you can do. You
can't go inside, so they
probably did
a defense attack here and just
surrounded the building and just
put
water on it until they could get
it to
where they needed to get it."
EYEWITNESS NEWS WAS
THERE AS A PORTION OF THE
BUILDING COLLAPSED.
INVESTIGATORS SAY THE MILL
BUILDING WAS BRICK ON THE
OUTSIDE - BUT WOODEN ON
THE INSIDE - ONCE HOME TO A
CHEMICAL COMPANY - THE
FLOORS LIKELY SOAKED IN OILS
FROM INDUSTRIAL USE OVER
THE YEARS.
AFTER EIGHT HOURS - THE
FLAMES WERE EXTINGUISHED -
AND THE DEA - ATF - AND STATE
FIRE MARSHAL WERE ABLE TO
INVESTIGATE CLOSER.
THEIR FOCUS - ON THAT
PORTION OF THE BUILDING
THAT COLLAPSED - STATE FIRE
MARSHAL TIM MCLAUGHLIN
SAYING - THAT'S WHERE THE
FIRE STARTED.
TIM MCLAUGHLIN/STATE FIRE
MARSHAL "What we did find in the
building. In the rear of the
building, a
little bit a ways from where the
fire
started, we did find drug
paraphernalia and some chemicals
there that could consider, that
were
flammable, so we disposed of
those."
MCLAUGHLIN ADDED THAT ONE
MAN DID SUFFER SECOND AND
THIRD DEGREE BURNS TO THE
UPPER TORSO - AND WAS
RUSHED TO RHODE ISLAND
HOSPITAL.
AS EQUIPMENT WAS BROUGHT
IN TO SIFT THROUGH THE
RUBBLE - SO WAS A STATE
POLICE CADAVER DOG.
"The fire was a known squatter
place and the fire was pretty
intense
so we just want to make sure
that
there's nothing in there."
TAKE KAIT LIVE
THE FIRE WAS SO HOT
AND BURNED SO FAST -
THE FIRE MARSHAL SAID
THE OFFICIAL CAUSE
COULD VERY WELL BE
LISTED AS
"UNDETERMINED."
NEW AT 6 - HEAR FROM
THE FIRE MARSHAL ON
THE STATE OF THESE MILL
BUILDINGS IN THE
BLACKSTONE VALLEY.
LIVE IN PAWTUCKET, I'M
KAIT WALSH, EYEWITNESS
(CG)
FIRST AT SIX --- WE'RE
TALKING TO THE STATE
FIRE MARSHAL,
FOLLOWING LAST NIGHT'S
MAJOR FIRE AT AN OLD
FACTORY BUILDING IN
PAWTUCKET.
AS WE REPORTED LIVE AT
FIVE ---
INVESTIGATORS SAY THEY
FOUND EVIDENCE OF
DRUGS ---
IN WHAT'S LEFT OF THE
BUILDING.
EYEWITNESS NEWS
REPORTER KAIT WALSH
HAS BEEN AT THE SCENE
ON PINE STREET ALL DAY.
SHE JOINS US LIVE FROM
PAWTUCKET --- WITH THE
BLACKSTONE VALLEY
MOBILE NEWSROOM.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT - IF
YOU WERE HERE
YESTERDAY AT THIS TIME -
YOU WOULD SEE
ANOTHER WHOLE HALF TO
THIS BUILDING.
THAT PART - COLLAPSED
IN THE INTENSE FLAMES
THIS MORNING - AND
THAT'S WHERE THE
FOCUS OF THE
INVESTIGATION INTO THE
CAUSE OF THE FIRE HAS
BEEN ALL AFTERNOON.
UP IN FLAMES -ALMOST FROM
THE START.
JUST MOMENTS AFTER THE
CALL CAME IN AFTER MIDNIGHT
- PAWTUCKET FIREFIGHTERS
ARRIVED TO THIS.
RED HOT FLAMES - RIPPING
THROUGH WHAT WAS
SUPPOSED TO BE A VACANT
MILL BUILDING - ONCE HOME TO
A CHEMICAL COMPANY - ON
PINE STREET IN PAWTUCKET.
"They contained it to where it
was. It
got going so fast, by the time
they
got here, i'm sure it was well
beyond
what they could do."
TOO HOT TO ENTER THE
BUILDING - AND TOO
DANGEROUS: EYEWITNESS
NEWS WAS THERE AS THIS
PART OF THE BUILDING
COLLAPSED.
STATE FIRE MARSHAL TIM
MCLAUGHLIN EXPLAINED WHILE
THEY BELIEVE THAT'S WHERE
THE FIRE STARTED - THEY STILL
AREN'T SURE OF THE EXACT
CAUSE.
AFTER EIGHT HOURS OF WORK
- FIRE INVESTIGATORS - THE
DEA- AND ATF GOT A CLOSER
LOOK - FINDING DRUG
PARAPHERNALIA AND
CHEMICALS.
A STATE POLICE CADAVER DOG
WAS BROUGHT IN TO ENSURE
NO ONE WAS KILLED - AFTER
THEY FOUND EVIDENCE OF
SQUATTERS INSIDE.
WE ASKED MCLAUGHLIN ABOUT
THE CONCERN OF THESE MILLS
STAYING VACANT.
"They were old textile machine
mills,
so they had oil soaked floors.
Once
the textile industry left, these
mills
stayed vacant, and it doesn't
take
much to get them going, so it;'s
certainly a concern statewide."
AS OF RIGHT NOW- THE
CAUSE IS STILL
UNKNOWN.
WE'LL CONTINUE TO STAY
ON THIS STORY - AND
UPDATE YOU AS SOON AS
WE GET ANYTHING NEW.
LIVE IN PAWTUCKET, I'M
KAIT WALSH, EYEWITNESS
NEWS.