Monday, March 08, 1999
Fire destroys Lockland factory
American Tissue Mills had been vacant since 1988
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LOCKLAND — Fire resolved an argument between the village and absentee owner about what should be done with an abandoned paper mill.
An empty, dilapidated brick office building and warehouse owned by American Tissue Mills of Ohio Inc. caught fire about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
The plant has drawn vandals and loiterers since former owner Fox Paper closed in 1988, frustrating officials trying to revitalize the village's 150 acres of mostly unproductive industrial property.
Sunday's blaze drew firefighters from seven suburban fire departments. Thick smoke, intense flames and a caved-in roof kept firefighters from the building for an hour.
A night guard noticed nothing amiss during earlier checks, Lockland Fire Chief Gary Wehmeyer said. The fire's cause remained undetermined Sunday night. Village Administrator Evonne Kovach said a ruling on the cause is expected by Tuesday.
Some of the yellow, black and white smoke poured onto Interstate 75 immediately below, obscuring southbound motorists' visibility and slowing traffic.
The Lock Street structure housed a fire department in the late 1800s.
The old mill has been empty since American Tissue
bought the plant in 1988. Several companies have produced tissues, toilet paper, napkins and other products at the complex, where some buildings are more than 100 years old.
For Sandra Graves, the blaze brought back lots of memories.
“My grandfather, John Caudill, used to worked here in the '50s and '60s,” the 34-year-old Lockland woman said. “This fire just amazes me and makes me want to cry.”
Scott Nicely, 30, rushed to Lockland from his Reading home to check on his grandmother, Alva Nicely, after hearing about the fire.
“At one time, this was a respected plant, but this place has just been rundown for so long,” said Mr. Nicely, whose brother helped battle the blaze as an Arlington Heights fire fighter. “If this hadn't happened, it probably would have fallen down anyway.”
Residents of this village of 4,300 have complained for years about the crumbling mill, saying unused facilities had become a blight that drew vandals and other loiterers.
In the early 1990s, the village lent American Tissue $1 million to reopen the plant. The company didn't reopen or repay the $680,000 balance by 1996 and the village sued.
Magistrate Rick Bernat of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court ordered American Tissue to repay, and it complied in 1997.
In December 1997, American Tissue Vice President Steven Catalfamo said the company based in Hauppage, N.Y., would reopen the plant “when time permits and is warranted by the condition of the market.”
The facility was condemned last year after falling bricks and mortar endangered passing pedestrians and motorists. Workers razed the most unstable portions of the complex.
Sunday, Ms. Kovach said officials would continue their efforts to revitalize the site.
“This is an urban renewal area for us,” Ms. Kovach said. “The site was and will continue to be part of those plans.”
When village officials launched a five-year urban renewal plan in 1996, 75 percent — or about 115 acres — of the village's industrial property was unproductive.
The Lockland Commerce Park, which housed another old paper mill on South Cooper Avenue, is the first major redevelopment project under that plan, Ms. Kovach said. Moxy Trucks of America, which produces road construction vehicles, will expand its facilities at that site, she said.
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