Firefighters will continue to douse hot spots Tuesday after a two-story building in the old sugar factory complex on Sugar Mill Road near Longmont became fully engulfed in flames, officials said.
Firefighters from the Mountain View Fire Rescue and Longmont Fire Department responded to the fire just after midnight, but due to the building’s instability and hazardous conditions, they could not send firefighters inside the building to fight the flames.
The 120-year-old property is no stranger to fire — it has seen four other fires since 2016.
“We have a blanket procedure for that property now. Since it’s been abandoned for so long and the structural integrity of the buildings is unknown, we don’t send firefighters inside of any of those structures of that building, just for their own safety,” Rick Tillery, a spokesperson for the Mountain View Fire Rescue, said.
Crews overnight poured water on the structure, which was believed to be unoccupied, from above to limit the spread of the fire, he said.
Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters will stay on the property Tuesday. While there is no danger to the public, officials are urging people to stay away from the area.
The fire’s exact cause was undetermined but likely human caused, as of Tuesday morning, Tillery said. He said he did not know what investigators found on the scene to lead them to that determination.
Further investigation of the fire will be tricky because of the structural dangers near the area where the fire likely started, he said.
“There are still steel trusses that may be weakened that litter that area. There are still very large wood timbers that are potentially burning on the inside of them,” Tillery said. “So you know, it’s unsafe for the crews to go inside of any of the structures on this property.”
The last fire, in August, was concentrated around wood materials stored in a machine shed.
The other fires sparked in December 2020, December 2017 and September 2016.
In 2012, Boulder County Public Health issued a warning to stay away from the buildings due to asbestos, unstable structures and other dangerous structures by putting up a “stay out” sign at the property, according to a 2020 report commissioned by the city. Large fires had been started by trespassers, which increased the instability of the buildings, the report said.
Tillery said the property is a “known hangout” for unhoused people.
The property, built in 1905, has been abandoned since 1977 and shut off to the public, though the Great Western Sugar Company still uses the silos for sugar storage.
The sugar factory property has long been a target for redevelopment.
In 2023, developers asked voters to approve a ballot measure that would authorized issuing bonds to create a performing arts center from a massive storage shed there that would anchor a neighborhood of 2,200 new homes. The measure failed.