Sparks from welding seen as cause of mill inferno

(Christine Peterson/Worcester Telegram & Gazette)

A day after the fire, firefighters continued to pour water on the smoldering wreckage.

By Globe Staff

Sparks from welding have been pinpointed as the the most probable cause of the massive eight-alarm fire in July that ravaged the Bernat Mill complex in the Central Massachusetts town of Uxbridge, state and local officials said today.

The state fire marshal and the Uxbridge police and fire chiefs said in a statement that the welding was performed in "an environment that did not meet the safety requirements of the fire and building code." They also said no permit had been obtained for the welding and that the sprinkler system in the area had been padlocked in the closed position without the fire department being notified.

"This allowed the fire to quickly overwhelm the sprinkler system," the officials said in a statement.

The fire broke out July 21. It destroyed dozens of businesses and threw hundreds of people out of work.

The officials said welding had caused small fires in the past and that, on the day before the fire, welding had been done in the area where the fire started.

Unprotected flammable material was near the origin of the fire, the officials said, noting that "a spark could have landed anywhere and started a smoldering fire" that went undetected for hours.

East Coast Machine, which was conducting the welding, was cited for three code violations. Capron Corp., the building owner, was also cited for failing to maintain the sprinkler system. Other citations were also issued.

The building housed 65 businesses with a total of 300 to 500 employees. More than 80 percent of the building was lost when the fire broke out in the center of the converted mill complex.

More than 400 firefighters from some three dozen communities took more than 24 hours to put out the fire.

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