A massive fire has impacted a handful of buildings in downtown Gloversville, totally destroying three.
The former Fownes glove factory on South Main Street in the Fulton County City caught fire Tuesday around 7 p.m. By the time local firefighters arrived, the building was engulfed.
The factory and an adjacent building, which was an exotic pet store, burned down. Another residential building on adjacent Burr Street was hit by an ember. First responders were unable to stop the fire in that building, though they were able to prevent any irreparable damage to any other buildings.
Authorities say no one was injured.
By Wednesday afternoon, the remains of the four-story factory were still smoldering as firefighters sprayed water from a neighboring parking lot and a demolition crew began knocking down one of the brick walls.
Wayne O’Brien has lived in the city for a couple years. His apartment is just up the street from the burning remains. He says he could feel the heat sitting on his porch.
“Oh, it was bad. I don’t have my phone right now but I got a video from when it first happened. The building was on fire, the power lines were just like—it was going crazy. It was. And then this house, I guess from the fire, the flames were going that way, that house was caught. They said I think the dumpster at the mechanic was on fire,” said O’Brien.
City Fire Chief Tom Groff says by the end of the day, the factory, which has been shuttered for years, will be demolished.
“These buildings are expensive to clean up. City just doesn’t have the fund to pursue it. We’ll pursue the owners and try to hold them responsible but for now we’ve just got to get it down so it’s not a hazard to the public. And then we’ll do everything we can to make someone responsible in order to get the buildings cleaned up. If the owners have insurance they should pony up and take care of their properties,” said Groff.
Groff says this is the third major mill fire within the city in the past 12 months.
Darrin Palmateer was renting the building next door to the factory for his pet store Adirondack Exotics.
“Complete and total restart. So, I was a hobbyist before I opened the store. Nobody opens up an exotic pet store out of nowhere. So, basically it’s like—I watched the past 12 years of my life burn up last night,” said Palmateer.
He says hundreds of animals were lost in the fire.
“So, I actually only live—I own a house that’s like four blocks away, five blocks away. My mom said ‘hey there’s a crazy fire,’ and I walked outside to look at the smoke and I just got this pit feeling that I had to come down and I got down here and I arrived on scene at the same time as one of the big trucks and this building was fully engulfed, flames 30 feet out of the building. They wouldn’t let me closer so I started running hoses with the firefighters to the fire extinguishers,” said Palmateer.
He says the support from city residents and hobbyists has been overwhelming. Though a GoFundMe has been started, Palmateer says it’ll be a slow recovery.
Mayor Vincent DeSantis says he had been planning to apply for state grants to preserve the factory.
“The building was historic, it had very high ceilings. 14-foot, 16-foot ceilings. Very large windows, it would have been a great building to restore. But it was in terrible, terrible condition. The owners had neglected it. One of the floors on the interior had collapsed onto the floor below it and it went all the way down to the ground floor. My thought, my hope was to apply for a Main Street Grant this year,” said DeSantis.
Lifelong city resident Frank Nethaway is one of the owners of the used car dealership across from the factory. He never imagined something like this happening in downtown.
“No. I know DeSantis was trying to work on getting it up. It’s a shame for everybody. The building next door had animals in it. Fires ain’t ever good,” said Nethaway.
The city of Gloversville circulated a video of a person authorities are seeking to identify as they investigate the fire. They ask anyone who can help identify the person to call 518-857-4489.
