Heavy flames and smoke could be seen pouring out of a Pawtucket mill building Friday night, just hours after firefighters knocked down a massive fire that significantly damaged the building.
The initial fire broke out just after midnight Friday morning at the old Roberts Chemical building on Pine Street. It took about eight hours to get the fire under control but crews were on scene all day, working to extinguish hot spots and survey the damage.
Pawtucket Battalion Fire Chief William Conroy said the fire reignited from what was left of the building around 7 p.m.
"This roof has a lot of void spaces, probably several different layers of roof," Conroy explained. “I was kind of shocked to the actual volume of fire that we had tonight. I expected to come here several times tonight for puffs of smoke or calls for reignited, but not like this.”