By Sarah Arkin
Danville Register & Bee
Published: May 9, 2008

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Collaborating with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Danville Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire that demolished the Long Mill Complex yesterday.

Firefighters were still putting out smoldering remains of the Long Mill at 10 a.m. this morning, and Eagle said he expected to have crews out all day. Rain last night helped, he said, but wind and lightening didn’t. When there’s lightening, he explained, crew members can’t use ladders.

One building is completely demolished and the second isn’t far behind.
“It’s a collapse waiting to happen,” said Eagle.

Only a small contingency of Danville residents who were evacuated from their homes after the Long Mill caught on fire hadn’t returned home as of 12:30 p.m.  Danville Emergency Management evacuated five streets in all last night: Farrar Street, Short Street, residential parts of Riverside Drive and a portion of Henry Street said coordinator Doug Young. Social services and the Salvation Army set up a shelter at the Salvation Army gym where one person spent the night, he said. The Salvation Army also helped by providing meals for public safety personnel.

Union Street Bridge was closed, Young said, mostly so Emergency Services could set up their command post there.

Danville civil servants worked hard all night.

“At one point we had about (100) personnel,” said Young. “Just about every agency in the city had a representative there.” By about 3 a.m., he said, there were 29 firefighters still battling the blaze, as well as 6 police officers and 4 Emergency Management personnel on the scene.

Starting yesterday evening, the Danville Hazards Material teams, along with Danville Health Department was taking samples of the air every half hour to make sure it was safe for people to breathe. By 2 a.m. they stopped testing.