May 31—VICTORY — The former Victory Mill was ravaged by fire on Saturday.
Firefighters from multiple departments responded to 42 Gates Ave. around 2:30 p.m. and found the building fully engulfed in flames, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office. More than three hours later, the sheriff's office said in a news release that the fire was under control.
Saratoga Town Supervisor Ian Murray in a post on Facebook called the fire "devastating," "intense and dangerous." He said the fire "has deeply impacted" the community and thanked firefighters for their work.
"To understand the weight of this moment: the mill is more than just a building. It's part of the very foundation of Victory," he said.
Murray added that its "towering presence has remained a symbol of our village's industrial legacy and resilience."
Tanker trucks at the scene were seen speeding away from the property as firefighters worked to fill them and bring water back to the site. Firefighters also filled up large rubber pools that were then used as a water source for two ladder trucks along the front of the mill on Gates Avenue and for one truck at the back of the mill. Three departments were also seen pumping water from nearby Fish Creek.
"The fire department has performed outstandingly, working tirelessly to contain the blaze. The Village is currently focusing on ensuring public safety and mitigating potential hazards," Victory Mayor Corey Helwig wrote in a post on Facebook.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to the sheriff's office.
A portion of state Route 32 near Pine Street was closed to traffic at 4:30 p.m., according to the state Department of Transportation website 511NY.
The five-story, approximately 230,000-square-foot textile mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The oldest part of the mill was built in the 1800s. The largest portion of it, which is made of concrete and old-growth timber, was built in 1918 and was "the culmination of the Saratoga Victory Manufacturing Company's milling operations that began on site almost 75 years earlier," according to a 2019 village of Victory report. It has been closed since 2000.
"The mill was the reason for the name, settlement, incorporation, growth and prosperity of the village," the report reads.
Michelle Vanarnum lives about two blocks from the old mill on Gates Avenue. Her husband, Leon, worked at the mill from 1976 until it closed in 2000. In 2002, she said, everything was cleaned out of it to prepare it for redevelopment. Several plans were introduced over the years, but none came to fruition, she said.
The latest plan submitted was in 2019, when a developer planned to convert the structure into 186 apartments and a brewpub.
The village recently informed neighbors that the time had come for the mill to be razed and work was supposed to start sometime after July 4, Vanarnum said.
Despite it being an easy target for squatters over the years and a place for kids to have parties, she said that now that the mill is destroyed, she has mixed feelings.
"I don't know. It's just always been there, in the center of town," she said. "If someone came to visit and you had to give them directions, you always say 'go to the old mill' and then count the houses. Now it's just gone."
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