Photo: Eugene Driscoll
The bricks from the chimney.
Bricks from a chimney atop a dilapidated building in Derby came crashing down to the sidewalk on Main Street Sunday afternoon.
Luckily, the city had roped off the area for just that reason, so no one was injured.
It’s the latest burp from 195 Main St., a four-story vacant building across from Derby City Hall.
“I heard a rumble, then I looked, and it was already halfway down the building,” said Rich Tardie, a volunteer firefighter who was on “fire watch” when the chimney fell.
“Fire watch” is essentially when a firefighter babysits a building to keep the public safe. It comes with an hourly charge, but the public is supposed to get reimbursed for any money the city spends.
Photo: Eugene Driscoll
Firefighters check out damaged chimney.
The City of Derby declared 195 Main St. a danger zone back on March 13, when firefighters on a separate “fire watch” downtown noticed it looked like one of the chimneys was leaning toward Main Street.
The building is owned by Derby Shores LLC, a company that owes thousands of dollars in back taxes to the city and to the city’s Water Pollution Control Authority.
The secretary of state’s website lists Michael Metzler of Ansonia and Phillip Hadden of Shelton as members of the LLC, and lawyer Michael Hillis as the company’s agent.
Photo: Eugene Driscoll
However, Derby officials have said Hillis is the principal agent of the company — and the person they’ve been dealing with regarding the property.
The owner’s engineer submitted documentation to Derby City Hall last week saying the building is structurally sound.
City officials told The Valley Indy scaffolding and, perhaps, netting was supposed to be erected to the Main Street side of the building because stucco and bricks keep taking nose dives.
But none of that had happened as of Sunday afternoon.
Mayor Rich Dziekan, who responded to the scene Sunday, said the owner said those steps would be taken Tuesday.
“That doesn’t really work for us,” Dziekan said.
As of 3 p.m. Sunday, building official Carlo Sarmiento was waiting for the city’s lawyer to return his calls regarding next steps to be taken.
A crew presumably hired by the owner showed up to clean up the bricks, but police and firefighters wouldn’t allow them to cross barriers because of the safety risk.
Two Derby firefighters used a ladder truck to get a better look at the building’s roof, which has been damaged for years, according to a lawsuit the property owner had pending against an insurance company.
Derby Assistant Chief Tom Biggs said what was left of top of the damaged chimney fell onto the sidewalk and into the building.
Firefighters took cell phone shots of the gaping hole in the roof and showed them to the mayor, the building official, along with Charles Sampson, the president of the Board of Aldermen (see photo).
The city was also in the process Sunday of contacting the state, because Main Street/Route 34 is a state-owned road.
