Demolition of fire-damaged historic building begins in Uxbridge

The demolition of a historic South Main Street building rendered unsalvageable by a fire began Tuesday after a brief delay.

Fire Chief William Kessler said abutter concerns held up the process of taking down the Bank Building, a Victorian-era structure gutted by fire on July 18.

"They had to come up with a new plan," he said, noting that the building demolition will be done in a more cautious, slower manner. "They were hoping to get a lot of work done (Tuesday), but the work will take a few days."

The cause of the fire is officially undetermined, but current evidence points to an electrical fire. According to a department release, there is not enough evidence, and may never be enough, to definitively determine how it started.

"It seems to have started in an inaccessible void space on the third floor," Kessler said. "While we're leaning toward an electrical fire, we can't prove it with the evidence."

The section of Rte. 122 in front of the building remains closed because of structural concerns, but Kessler said re-opening the road is a priority.

"As soon as the building gets to the point where the instability is gone, I believe it is the intent of public safety to re-open at least one lane of the road," he said. "The town's committed to opening the road as soon as possible."

Kessler said he believes the road will open before the building is entirely demolished, as engineers said the front and back walls of the third floor were causing the instability, but he did not know when that would be.

The building was the site of a six-alarm fire last week that sent two firefighters and a bystander to the hospital with symptoms of heat exhaustion. All the tenants were able to escape the building, though a pet cat perished in the blaze.

Local officials determined the building was unsafe the next day, and ordered it destroyed.

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Demolition of fire-damaged historic building begins in Uxbridge