As another piece of Columbus' industrial history went up in flames, firefighters battling the raging blaze at the vacant Swift Mill on Sixth Avenue at 14th Street circled the structure late Saturday to save adjacent businesses and locomotives in the rail yard behind the old mill.
"In my professional opinion, it looks like what they got set up is a defensive operation," Jeff Meyer, chief of Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said after arriving on the scene about 7:50 p.m. "They are trying to protect the businesses surrounding these buildings. There are assets in the train yard over here."
With thick black smoke billowing from the building, Meyer said a fire unit from Phenix City joined Columbus firefighters at the portion of the structure closest to the 13th Street Bridge. Flames broke through the roof of the four-story brick mill as firefighters fought to contain the damage.
After about 40 minutes of aggressively attacking the inferno, fire crews began to back away from the burning building to clear what one firefighter called the "collapse zone," where crumbling walls could fall. About five minutes before the firefighters retreated, the brick walls began to topple.
With flames shooting more than four stories high, embers soared overhead, raising the risk of starting fires elsewhere. Meyer said firefighters would canvass neighborhoods around the mill to look for other damage. Phenix City authorities also were alerted to the danger, he said.
"These embers will go miles away," he said. "They will have to do the same on the other side of the river."
Meyer said firefighters would be on the scene until the fire was under control.
"We got investigators on the scene, but there is no way to get in the interior of the building," the chief said.
Long history
Organized in 1883 by William A. Swift and G. Mote Williams, the mill was the first large steam-driven textile plant in the city. Over time it developed into an even larger complex as Swift Manufacturing made major additions in 1896, 1918 and 1925-1928, according to research by historian John Lupold. The mill built new warehouses and continued to update its facilities through the 1970s.
After local investors sold the mill in 1962, it operated under series of different owners. Over the years it repeatedly shifted its product lines, producing bed spreads, open mesh, automobile seat covers and industrial fabrics.
More recently the mill produced denim yarn, part of a process by which Swift furnished material to blue jeans makers such as J.C. Penney and Levis.
Swift Denim closed its operations in 2006 and sold the building to a company in North Carolina. The mill, which had nearly 80,000 square feet, previously was damaged by fires in June 2008 and in March 2009.
Columbus Council last year rezoned the area from light-manufacturing industrial to an Uptown zoning district. A $50 million development slated to be completed in four phases over the next decade had been in the works.
Traffic tangles
The massive fire clogged streets with motorists gawking at the blaze.
Disc jockey Damon Free was riding by around 6 p.m. when he saw the smoke.
"It looked like Swift Mill was on fire and that's when I made the 911 call," Free said. "It was about 6. The first time I called it was busy. I figured they had probably got the message."
Marcus Jones was driving with his family on Veterans Parkway when he saw the smoke two blocks over. "I saw a thick screen of black smoke, then I rolled up on this," Jones said as he watched the fire from a block away.
The smoke cloud extended for miles.
Jeffrey Fiveash of Columbus said he and his family were in Auburn when they saw the black smoke. "We could see the smoke from 280," he said after parking near Fifth Avenue.
The fire bought back memories for Fiveash, who recalled his mother-in-law Josephine Cunningham working at the mill. "I just know it's part of Columbus history," Fiveash said. "They made denim there."
Traffic downtown became a nightmare as spectators left the Fountain City Classic at the A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium on Fourth Street, about a mile away. As the fire raged, onlookers increased. Many people sought a position on the 13th Street viaduct, about a block south of the fire.
A line of vehicles headed north on 10th Avenue stood motionless at 8 p.m., unable to turn west onto Linwood Boulevard because of a police roadblock.
Flaming spectacle
Casey and Corey Strickland sat atop a concrete wall in the parking lot of Hagemeyer, just off 10th Avenue. Casey held a camera as he recorded the blaze.
"It's going to collapse eventually," Casey Strickland said of the building, of the fire adding, "It's spread."
Denzel Meadows and his brother, Emmanuel Meadows, watched the blaze from another concrete wall a few blocks south of Hagemeyer. Denzel Meadows was riding his bicycle in nearby East Highlands area before nightfall when he saw the flames.
He got closer, before the fire had spread, and recorded it on his cell phone. "Stuff was falling apart," he said. "I was just saying, 'Don't blow up. Don't blow up.'"
Also along 10th Avenue, Eric Reinitz stood in the bed of his truck to watch the fire.
"I just find it funny that all the mills in town have caught fire," Reinitz said. "That's really all I have to say."
The Swift fire is the second major mill fire since Bibb Mill burned in late October 2008.
Staff writers Jim Mustian, Alan Riquelmy, Tim Chitwood, Chuck Williams and Sonya Sorich contributed to this report.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
