Crews begin dismantling burned-out Fall River mill building
mill buildings are more than strong. they are also stubborn. fire investigators wrestled with that trait Wednesday as they struggled with thick boards and heavy timbers — some of them still burning — to get to the source of the fire that destroyed the office and proofing building at the King Phillip mill Complex, 386 Kilburn St., starting at 2:48 a.m. Tuesday. A power backhoe pulled down the north wall of the building Wednesday morning. the driver pushed the granite blocks that formed the building to the side so he could get into the structure. the backhoe moved into the interior of the building and began pulling out charred timbers and burned wall, lifting the debris and depositing it in piles outside the building. “we need to get to the first-floor level so we can look at where the fire started and get dogs in there,” said fire Capt. Maurice Reney, an investigator on the scene Wednesday. “we tried to do it with picks and shovels, but this is frozen solid, so we called in heavy equipment.” As he spoke, other investigators climbed the piles of rubble and stood next to the small fires that sprang up in the still-smoldering roofing boards and rafters. Small fires rekindled in the debris piles. the piles exuded heat, warming the frigid air to temperatures somewhere around freezing. By early afternoon, the backhoe had exited the building. Investigators with the city, the State Police and the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms moved in. Dogs sniffed through the rubble, looking for more evidence on how the fire started and spread. That evidence will most likely be used against Christopher Silva, 37, of 215 Tripp St., who was arrested shortly after the fire started when he was spotted in the crowd watching the building burn. Silva, police allege, objected when Police Lt. Paul Bernier and fire Lt. William Powers began to ask him questions. He tried to push past both men and run away, but could not make a successful escape, police say. Silva was charged Tuesday afternoon with arson, arson of a dwelling house, two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, two counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime and larceny from a building. Police say Zhan Zou, the building manager, was asleep on the second floor of the building when he heard noise and woke to see smoke curling through the floorboards of the room he was in. Zou left the building through an exterior staircase on the west side of the building and then called for help when he saw flames on the first floor. Firefighters arrived four minutes later to an entirely different picture. “When the district chief arrived, he said there was fire visible in every window,” Reney said. “He ordered firefighters to back off and concentrate on protecting the mill building.” Firefighters reported hearing granite blocks shatter in the heat at the peak of the fire. Metal girders twisted, telling investigators that the heat inside the building exceeded 1,500 degrees. the building that burned is a large two-story structure made of granite with large windows and a massive skylights on the roof. When the mill was active, the first floor of the building held the offices for managers and accountants. There was no direct access from the offices to the mill. the second floor of the building was the proofing room where workers brought in carts of fabric to be studied, under the natural light from the north-facing sawtooth roof. the second floor was connected by a wooden bridge, called a causeway, that is 20 feet above the ground and runs from the second floor of the mill to the second floor of the smaller building. Firefighters went into the mill and set up in the causeway, spraying water to push the fire back into the burning building. Firefighters also set up ladder trucks with water cannons over the 25-foot driveway that separates the smaller building from the mill. the firefighters maintained a wall of water between the buildings, stopping the fire. the small building was destroyed. the mill behind it is four stories tall with a footprint larger than a football field. the walls and eaves closest to the fire are unmarked by soot or smoke. the fire did not damage the glass in the closest windows. There are two more mill buildings, larger than the first, attached to the mill building closest to the building that burned. the complex fills two city blocks and backs up against Cook Pond. While investigators braved the cold, the ice and the smoke that still curled from the wreckage, city officials began chasing, once more, the owners of the building. five Kings LLC is the corporation that holds title to the property, but the principals in that venture cannot be found, Mayor will Flanagan said. the property manager told investigators he has not heard from the building owners in several years. the building does not meet the city’s building code, Flanagan said. it had an alarm system through most of it and a sprinkler system, but the sprinklers did not work in all parts of the complex. the building that burned did not have a functioning sprinkler system or a working alarm, firefighters report. Police allege that sometime after midnight on Tuesday, Silva broke into an office being used by Philip Dann, who told investigators he planned to offer kayak tours and ecological education programs on Cook Pond. He said he had computer equipment in the office. Silva stole computer equipment and other items and then set fire to the building, police allege. Detectives searched Silva’s home on Tripp Street after Silva was arrested one block away, watching the fire. they allege they recovered computer equipment in his home and in the car Silva drove. Silva is being held without bail pending a bail hearing on Jan. 10. the initial charge against him included attempted murder. That charge was dropped because there was no allegation in the initial report that Silva knew anyone was in the building when he set it on fire. all of those charges will be reviewed by a grand jury, which must determine if there is sufficient evidence against Silva to warrant proceeding to trial in Superior Court. Email Kevin P. O’Connor at .
