Ignited Wax Might Have Started Massive Fire in Seymour: Officials

Fire destroyed a historic building in Seymour on Wednesday and two firefighters were treated for minor injuries, according to the Seymour fire marshal’s office.

The preliminary findings of the investigation appear to indicate the fire started when a store employee accidentally ignited wax while polishing merchandise, the fire marshal's office said. 

Firefighters were dispatched just after 2 p.m. to a fire at 4 Bank St. and they found heavy fire. The fire marshal’s office said Thursday that the actual address was 141 Main St.

Conditions began to deteriorate above the fire crews and fire traveled throughout the common loft above the businesses, fire officials said.

Officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said Thursday there were multiple explosions from within the building, which appears to have had a furniture refinishing operation inside, and that caused a four-block area to be covered in roofing materials containing asbestos.

DEEP said Environmental Services, Inc. was contracted and is doing a grid-type cleanup for the area. Catch basins will be cleaned.

DEEP will evaluate the adjoining river banks and properties.

Around 150 firefighters battled the blaze over a five-hour period and the building was deemed a total loss.

DEEP is working to get a special decontamination/washing trailer to wash the 100 sets of gear that the firefighters are wearing to decontaminate them and not take the gear off the site. 

Five business owners are displaced as a result of the fire. The building housed a massage parlor, two antique shops, and a barbershop.

Fire officials said residents in two apartment buildings next door were evacuated as a precaution. About 13 residents are believed to be displaced

The Seymour fire marshal’s office, the Seymour Police Department and the Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit are investigating. 

The fire marshal’s office said the preliminary findings appear to indicate that the fire was a result of a store employee accidentally igniting wax while polishing some merchandise.