Massive Torrington Factory Fire Lights Up Sky

On an early Sunday morning of September 28th, at approximately 12:49, residents of Torrington were awakened by the Stone Container Company factory engulfed inside of a violent rage of flames.

 Zachary Nelson, an eleven-year-old boy, was on his way home from the gas station notices “a whole bunch of fire trucks were speeding with their lights on.” He turned in the direction and saw they were speeding.

Nelson was alarmed by a “massive fire.” He had to ride by the fire to get home, where he was surprised to find “the surrounding area was very hot.”

Deputy Fire Chief David Tripp reported that “at least a hundred firefighters came to the scene.” This was only possible from the “twenty-two different departments” that helped Torrington’s department greatly.

“We had twelve ladder trucks on rotation,” Tripp noted. Due to the size, finding enough water and people to battle the blaze was a concern.

“We were using close to 7000 gallons of water a minute,” said Tripp. “It was a challenge finding firefighters in close proximity willing to get out of bed at the time.” That said, he was very pleased with the response and grateful to the many departments that responded.

Tripp reported that each building that was involved “held vacancy.” He expressed satisfaction that the department was “able to save one building, on the west side.”

The cause is still under investigation. Tripp noted, “It will be hard to determine the cause due to the magnitude of damage and degree.” He expressed frustration that he doesn’t think “we’ll ever be able to actually determine a cause.” 

Although the cause is still unknown, Torrington’s department and town is now offering $2,500 to anybody who has information on possible arson, according to wfsb.com and other news outlets.

This is not the first fire in this area. “In 2009, the factories had a fire for the first time.” At that time, Tripp said, homes on Cameron Street had the “sides of their houses melted.”

Luckily, this time around, “There was no damage done to any surrounding houses.”

Environmentally, this may leave some effects. Chief Tripp expressed, “only time will tell.” So far, regulated air quality tests show that the air is clear. The concern appears to be runoff.

“A fire like this comes with a lot of water,” Tripp explained. “Over two million gallons of water got put into this, and that comes with some runoff.” Runoff is when water or snow melts through the dirt and brings pollutants to lakes or rivers.

Tripp expressed concern that “The Naugatauk River took the biggest hit.”

He explained that most of this runoff is “unrecoverable.” There has also been “debris found all the way up by Torringford.” With a fire this size, clean up is going to be expensive.

Tripp believes “It will be a multi-million dollar job.”