A FIRE WAS REPORTED SHORTLY AFTER 5 AM THIS MORNING at a vacant factory complex in the center of Torrington, Connecticut.  When the first units arrived they found one of the five industrial buildings heavily involved with fire.

WTNH-TV Ch. 8 has this daybreak video report:

The complex was last used by the Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., a Missouri company that made cardboard boxes there before they vacated the plant in 2000.  Some early reports say that the building that is burning has lately been used as a public storage facility.

The fire has gone to four alarms and is still burning.

Republican-American photo

Update, 2 pm:
The building that housed the fire was completely destroyed.  The FD’s were able to contain the fire to that one building in the 5-bldg. complex, however there was some damage to neighboring houses from the heat generated by the flames that reached 40-50 ft. high during the most intense part of the blaze.

The fire building was being used by the Daly Moving & Storage Co. and was filled with household goods.

Republican-American photo

The Republican-American has an updated report HERE.

THE CHINO STATE PRISON IN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, is the scene of a violent riot that began around 8:20 pm Pacific time Saturday night.  The vicious clash between prisoner factions has left dozens seriously injured and generated several fires in the facility.

The compound is a medium-security men’s prison and contains 1,300 inmates.  During the night, people near the facility reported hearing much gunfire and seeing more than one building set afire.  The prison has not confirmed that the explosive sounds were that of gunfire or anything else.

Witnesses outside also reported that as many as 20 injured prisoners were seen being carried out on stretchers by the Chino Valley Fire Dept. personnel.

Update, 11 am Eastern:
CNN is reporting that 40 inmates have been hospitalized, four of them were airlifted to hospitals.  No prison staff members were injured during the melee.

The disturbance has been quelled and inmates are now being returned to housing units.  The prison contains seven separate housing sections, each containing about 200 prisoners.

The major fire was in one of the housing units where the destruction was very heavy.

CNN / Newspro photo

Update, Monday 9 am Eastern:
Prison authorities have reported that a total of 250 inmates were injured in the prison-wide riot and 55 of them were hospitalized, four in life-threatening condition.

The prison is under an “indefinite lockdown.”

AN EARLY MORNING FIRE ON FRIDAY IN A BOY SCOUT CAMPGROUND killed one person, believed to be a 20-yr.-old adult.  The tragedy took place in Augusta County, Virginia, at Camp Shenandoah, a Boy Scouts of America facility.

News Leader photo

The fire was first noticed shortly after 4 am and the fire department was called.  The Staunton News Leader reports:

Swoope, Churchville and Staunton fire departments responded.

Upon their arrival, the fire was consuming the entire building and it was confirmed a person was trapped inside. Holloway said it was tragic and, although the crew did a good job, the intensity of the heat prevented a rescue. It was difficult to prevent the fire from spreading, he said.

About 40 firefighters were involved in containing and extinguishing the blaze.

The building that was burning is called the Trading Post and is used to store supplies and souvenirs.  It also contains some office space and a small sleeping quarters.  After the fire was out, the body of the unidentified adult was located.

The camp was being used by a group of Cub Scouts who were on a 4-day visit to take their last test before advancing to the Boy Scout level of scouting.  There were 107 boys and 80 adults at the camp.

The News Leader has more HERE.
The News Leader has a 13-image photo gallery HERE.

A FIRE THAT RAPIDLY FILLED A CONVALESCENT HOME IN BELGIUM with thick smoke Thursday night killed nine of the 100 residents.  The victims, seven women and two men, were all residents of the Kanunnik Triest home in the Flemish town of Melle and died of smoke inhalation, according to an investigator.  Three more victims are in life-threatening critical condition.  An additionl 30 people have been admitted to the hospital, including two paramedics who were trying to rescue victims.

AFP

The 3-story masonry building has no airconditioning, which is not unusual for much of western Europe, including modern hospitals.  As the night temperatures were still in the upper 80′s, the doors and windows throughout the facility were propped open.  When the fire began, the smoke traveled freely thoughout the structure.

Firegeezer notes:  One of our readers pointed out that apparently they also lack the same level of code protection that we have which requires automatic door closures and smoke barriers in hospitals and nursing homes.

Early reports have blamed either a fan or a television set as being the point-of-origin of the fire.  Whe the FD arrived on the scene, fire was already showing at some windows.  The fire itself was knocked down fairly quickly, but the smoke had done its damage.

Euronews REPORTS:

The home’s management team insists every precaution had been taken. The Kannunik Triest home’s Director Geert Buyse said: “At the beginning of June we had a fire drill together with the fire department of Melle. We practised an evacuation on the same floor where the fire took place. At the time we also evacuated residents to see how we should do it in case of emergency. So yesterday we knew exactly what to do. Otherwise the death toll could have been higher.”

Only those who were awake at the time of the blaze were able to escape.

Hat tip to Freddie B.

A 2-STORY BOATHOUSE IN IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS, erupted in flames shortly before 11 am Eastern this morning (Friday) and rapidly engulfed the entire 55-yr.-old structure.

WBZ-TV

The FD rapidly escalated the response to 3 alarms and soon shifted into containment operations and the large fire began burning a neighboring home.

WBZ-TV

It is believed that the boathouse was no longer being used and has been vacant for some time.  The fire is still burning, so no further information is available yet.  But WHDH-TV has some good aerial video of the fire and they caught the fiery collapse of the building HERE.

Update, 1:15 pm: 
The fire was reported to be largely knocked down by noon.  No injuries reported so far.

WFXT-TV has a brief aerial video:

Update, Saturday 9 am:
The fire in the abandoned lobster boat-building structure caused “several millions” of dollars in damages according to an AP REPORT.   The extended fire destroyed a boat marina and bait shop along with 3 boats, and the neighboring house suffered extensive damage along with several classic cars that were inside.

The Boston Herald is REPORTING:

According to town Selectman Raymond K. Morley, the boatyard built and launched custom-made, wooden lobster boats equipped with Oldsmobile engines until 15 to 17 years ago. He believed that many spare parts remained in the building.

The 7,500-square-foot, two-story building was erected in 1954. The boathouse, which offered living quarters on the second floor and commercial space on the first, was sold in 1985 to Arthur Harrington of Rowley, who allowed lifelong tenancy for the mother of previous owner Herman Melanson, but not for Melanson himself, according to records. After Harrington died in 2008, his family began an attempt to evict Melanson and sell the property to be converted into four, two-bedroom condominiums, records show.

FOLKS ON THE GO IN THE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, SUBURB OF HODGKINS were compelled to stop and look Thursday afternoon as a huge plume of black smoke poured out of the local Walmart store.

Chicago Tribune

The blaze broke out around 1:30 pm on the roof of the store where some construction activity was taking place.  At 1:45 a 2nd alarm was struck to get additional master streams in service as the Pleasantville FD was attempting to drench the fire that had involved a two large piles of roofing materials.  Both the Walmart and the adjoining Sam’s Club stores were filled with shoppers that had to be evacuated, a task that took close to 10 minutes.

By 2:30 the fire was out, but the interior of the store suffered a large amount of smoke and water damage that will keep it closed for several weeks.

WGN-TV Ch. 9 has a video report: