NEW HAVEN, Conn. — On Wednesday, a massive fire tore through an industrial warehouse building on River Street in New Haven.
The following day, city building officials announced the structure was deemed unsafe and was condemned.
“It was a historic building, and it’s a tragedy, you know, but, thank God nobody was seriously hurt,” said a man who goes by ‘Butch’ and works in one of the businesses located within the warehouse.
Thursday afternoon, Butch and many others who rented out and worked at the nearly half a dozen businesses on site tried to recover what was left inside of their shops.
“I’m getting all my stuff, my equipment. I got tractor trailers in there, tire machines, lifts, cars, that are customers,” said Jose Martinez, who owns 365 Motorsport LLC., near the front end of the building.
Along with running his business in the warehouse for years, Martinez said he’s also the property manager for the whole building.
“It’s heartbreaking because I’ve been here so long. And I really, you know, the business was growing, everything was going so well, and then this happens, you know,” Martinez said.
New Haven City Building Official Bob Dillon said since the fire broke out, firefighters have had to return to the scene several times to put out hot spots, which have been sitting beneath the debris.
“It’s a 20-foot pile of rubble right now,” Dillon said. “The building’s probably 250 feet long. Of the 250 feet long, you probably lost about 150 feet of it, linear. So, there are some portions of the building that weren’t damaged and some portions that were, significantly. And there’s part of the building that’s not even here anymore.”
Although the outside of the building is largely intact, Dillon said most of the inside was damaged by water and smoke.
“Public safety is first and foremost. So, we got to be able to have the owner support the building so, people just can’t come in this building,” Dillon said.
Dillon said the building’s owner, Concrete Solutions, has been instructed to put fencing up to keep the public out. They’re also now responsible for having a structural engineer look at the building to decide what to do with the property in the future.
“Fortunately, the exterior is mostly brick. And the roof is obviously wood, so that helped out the outside. And you could tell the building up against the sidewalk is all intact, which is good for the public and acts as a good protection,” Dillon said.
As that process all plays out, the renters are trying to stay positive as they plan their next steps.
“I got to keep going. It’s a little minor setback, but you know, things happen for a reason and, God willingly, everything will be good,” Martinez said.
When it comes to the investigation into the cause and origin of the fire, fire officials said that will take quite some time to figure out.
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Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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