ATF, Danville investigators probe Long Mill blaze

By Sarah Arkin and Denice Thibodeau
Register & Bee staff writers
Published: May 9, 2008

Collaborating with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Danville Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire that demolished two buildings of the Long Mill complex Thursday.
Danville firefighters were still at the mill Friday night and would remain there throughout the night extinguishing hotspots, Fire Marshal Shelby Irving said.
“The Fire Marshal’s office is conducting a thorough investigation with assistance from the ATF,” she said in a statement released at about 6 p.m. Friday.
Irving has asked for anyone who photographed the early stages of the fire, or saw anything unusual, to get in touch with the Danville Police Department or the fire department.
Fire Chief David Eagle said Thursday that investigators were certain the fire started in a large pile of debris.
Firefighters were still putting out the smoldering remains of two buildings at Long Mill on Friday, and Eagle said he expected to have crews out all day.
Rain Thursday night helped, he said, but the wind and lightning didn’t. When there’s lightning, he explained, firefighters can’t use ladders.
One building is completely demolished and the second isn’t far behind.
“It’s a collapse waiting to happen,” Eagle said.
Only a few Danville residents who were evacuated from their homes after the mill buildings caught fire hadn’t returned home as of 12:30 p.m.
Irving said all residents who had been evacuated were given permission to return home Friday evening.
Officials with the Department of Emergency Services evacuated Farrar and Short streets, residential parts of Riverside Drive, and a portion of Henry Street, according to Doug Young, the city’s director of emergency services.
The Department of 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, he said.
“At one point we had about (100) personnel,” Young said. “Just about every agency in the city had a representative there.”
By about 3 a.m. Friday, he said, there were 29 firefighters still battling the blaze, as well as six police officers and four emergency management personnel at the Long Mill.
On Thursday night, Danville Hazardous Materials teams, along with the Danville Health Department, were taking samples of the air every half-hour to make sure it was safe for people to breathe, Young said. By 2 a.m. they were able to stop the testing.
On Thursday night, Roscoe Reynolds, owner of Reynolds Furniture on Memorial Drive, watched the mill burn from the Union Street Bridge.
He reminisced about the impact Dan River Inc. had on his family.
“My grandmother used to fix hot meals for the mill workers,” Reynolds said. “Dickie Willie had a little cart and he’d put the meals on it and take them down there.
“He got paid for taking them and my grandmother got paid for cooking them; she paid for three houses out of that.”
He also said an aunt started the Virginia Potato Chip Co.
“She started out in a little grocery store, peeling potatoes herself,” he said. Ultimately, she supplied chips to “the whole Dan River Mill.”
Nanette Fowlkes, who works at Coachman Cleaners on Memorial Drive, said she once worked at Long Mill.
She said the fire combined with the demolition that had already started at the Long Mill made her sad.
“I hate to see them tear anything down that’s been around for a long time,” she said, and then sighed. “Things change.”
In June 2007, Danville’s Director of Inspections Jerry Rigney condemned the property, paving the way for demolition. A contractor has been tearing down the building for the past few months.
The Danville Historical Society owns a portion of the property. Members claimed there are covenants that bar demolition of part of the property, and petitioned for an injunction against the demolition.
On April 30, citing concerns over the safety of the structure, Judge David Melesco denied the injunction.
Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983. Contact Denice Thibodeau at or (434) 791-7985.