Crews continue cleanup after fire rips through abandoned building in Waterbury

WATERBURY, Conn. (WFSB) - Firefighters are cleaning up after a fire ripped through an abandoned building in Waterbury Saturday night.

While the building was abandoned the fire still caused a disruption in the neighborhood, forcing people to evacuate their homes and causing multiple road closures.

Police were asking residents to avoid 800 South Main ST, River ST, Washington ST and Baldwin ST while the the fire department battled the fire.

Firefighters say the fire started on the River Street side of the building, and then spread to the South Main Street side.

They say the fire threatened some nearby homes and several people were evacuated.

Two firefighters have been injured. One suffered from heat exhaustion.

Residents living on River Street watched the fire quickly grow and were scared it would spread to their homes.

“I looked out my window and I was able to see the big flames, I mean, they were like, billowing. I’m not going to lie I was a little scared,” said Matthew Hopson, Waterbury.

The billowing smoke could be seen for miles.

All evening long the fire was sending up a massive plume of smoke, and a good portion of the building has collapsed,

“When the first part of the building collapsed it sounded like thunder. The ground did shake a little bit. It was quite loud. We did see part of the building collapse into the river which sent up a bunch of water when it collapsed,” said Sara Lindsey, Meriden.

When that collapse happened, she says she was hit by a piece of brick.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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