Deputy Fire Chief William Laliberty, who was at the scene of the fire on Tuesday morning along with police and other officials, said firefighters were continuing to douse "hot spots" where there were small active fires resulting from Sunday's inferno.
Although arson has been considered as a possible cause of the eight-alarm blaze that destroyed a former Hudson Machinery building other causes — including accidental — had not been ruled out.
He said that once investigators are able to safely enter the building, they will be looking for the fire's point of origin, which he said can help determine the cause of the blaze.
Just up the street, Ron Lambert of Lambert Roofing and Siding was waiting for the power to be turned back on and for his company's phone system to be reactivated.
"We can't run our sheet metal shop without power, so it is hurting us," said Lambert, whose family has operated the business for three generations. His father founded the business in 1932, he said. He took over in 1960, and his son, Richard, has been running the business for the last 15 years.
"The fire slowed us down, so it's been a big inconvenience," Lambert said.
By Tuesday, police had reopened a section of a street that had been closed to traffic since Sunday. A section was still closed to through-traffic while firefighters continued to pour water into the old mill building.
Mayor James Fiorentini appeared at Tuesday night's City Council meeting to update members on the Fire Department's efforts. He was accompanied by Fire Chief Jack Parow and Public Safety Commissioner Alan DeNaro, who received applause from the council.
Fiorentini said 125 firefighters from 19 departments used 35 pieces of apparatus, which were pumping 8,000 to 10,000 gallons of water a minute to put out the blaze.
"We called back 50 percent of the off-duty firefighters and every person we could reach responded and came in immediately," Fiorentini said. "You could feel the heat, you could feel people getting singed, but not a single person was injured, none of the firefighters, none of the civilians."
Fiorentini outlined the plan that firefighters carried out that allowed the fire to be contained to the one mill building, while keeping everyone involved safe.
He said city officials met 1 1/2 years ago with the late former fire chief, Richard Borden, to talk about the mill buildings and how to avoid a potential tragedy like the one that occurred with the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse fire of 1999, which killed six firefighters.
"What we were all worried about was another Worcester situation, where people would get into the building and firefighters would lose their lives, and I'm so grateful that nothing like that happened here," Fiorentini said.
Parow hailed the combined effort between the city's Fire and Police departments, Department of Public Works and state agencies in putting out the fire.
"The State Police helicopter that was flying overhead had a thermal imaging camera that was telling us about the hot spots we had to put out in the front of the building," he said. "Trinity Ambulance showed up with water for the guys and for extra ambulances in case someone was hurt."
Parow marveled at the community support, saying that residents brought pizzas and water bottles for the firefighters.
"To me, being new to the community, it gave me that sense of that small town feeling in a big city, so I can't tell you how impressed I am," he said before praising Deputy Chief Doug Brown for his work in organizing the responding departments and their equipment.
Parow said the city still has about 20 vacant buildings that it will continue to diligently patrol every Thursday for changes, vagrants and drug paraphernalia.
"That was a bad building, we knew it was a bad building. They pre-planned that building and knew where every piece of apparatus had to go. Every alleyway riverside, we had apparatuses and monitors hitting that building," Parow said. "I can't say how proud I am of the Fire Department."
DeNaro added that the department's performance has him more confident than ever in the city's firefighting force.
"The police also worked seamlessly with the State Police and everything worked as it was supposed to work," he said. "From an emergency management standpoint, I can tell you that this is better than any tabletop exercise we could have ever done.
"It's apparent to us that, in the event that something serious or major should come upon us, we are more than prepared to be able to deal with whatever that situation is," DeNaro added. "That's very comforting."
DeNaro said that the Department of Environmental Protection had been on hand to take water and air samples, which passed "with flying colors."
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