A massive fire damaged an old factory building in downtown New Britain, causing the roof and stairs to collapse.
Bricks are falling from an old factory building that caught fire in downtown New Britain last night and officials are warning people to avoid the area.
Dozens of firefighters spent hours battling a raging fire on High Street and part of the roof and some stairwells have collapsed.
The building, located at 59 High St., was built in the 1800s. It is on the corner of High Street and Columbus Boulevard and High Street, Columbus Boulevard and several surrounding streets were closed.
New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart said bricks appear to be falling onto the road nearby. The mayor is warning the public to stay away to avoid any injuries as conditions continue to deteriorate.
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Officials said the building is looking to be a total loss, and a portion of Columbus Boulevard will remain closed for at least 48 hours until a structural engineer can assess the safety of the building.
"As you can see, the stability of the structure is certainly compromised," Stewart said on Facebook.
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The factory building houses Polar Corporation, a car repair shop and a European furniture store, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart said, and there are also many unoccupied floors.
Firefighters responded to the scene around 8 p.m. and found heavy fire on the second and third floors. They remained at the scene on Wednesday morning, putting out hotspots.
“There was fire coming for almost every window,” Valerye Quintana, of New Britain, said. “The smoke was so crazy.”
Officials said workers who were there when the fire started were not hurt and no injuries have been reported.
“We’re limited in our ability to actually access the building and overhaul and open up those spaces, so there were times we actually had to let those spaces burn out, burn open so we could get water into the voids,” New Britain’s Assistant Fire Chief Peter Towey said.
Mayor Stewart went up in a bucket truck and saw just how compromised the structure is.
“You can see the arches in the windows that are starting to break, you can see the mortar between the brick that is just missing in some places and that does a lot of damage for the building. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it has to come down,” she said.
The fire marshal will investigate the cause of the fire and how it started.
