PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- An overnight fire in a 19th-century mill complex listed on the historic national register appears to be arson, fire investigators said Monday morning.
Pawtucket and Central Falls firefighters responded at 2:21 a.m., alerted by a resident at nearby Coates Manor, an elderly housing development on Lonsdale Avenue, said Capt. Robert Thurber, Pawtucket's fire marshal.
A shed next to Mill 5 in the long-vacant complex, known as Conant Thread-Coats & Clark Mill Complex, was destroyed, said Thurber and Central Falls Fire Chief Robert E. Bradley Jr.
A couch propped against the mill building had also been set ablaze, Thurber and Bradley said.
No injuries were reported.
Moments after the couch was removed, firefighters were alerted someone had placed a mattress in the same location, seemingly to light it on fire, Bradley said.
The mill, which straddles Pawtucket and Central Falls, was founded in 1868 as a single 4,000-square-foot building. It grew to some 20 buildings in a partnership with J & P Coats, now Coats & Clark, one of the world's largest thread companies.
This entry was first posted at 10:48 a.m.