Nation IN BRIEF : MASSACHUSETTS : Textile Factory Hit by Fire; 33 Are Hurt
An explosion and fire did not just level most of the Malden Mills textile factory in Methuen, Mass. It destroyed a near-miraculous success story of the New England textile industry. It threatened the supply of fleecy Polartec fabric to customers such as L.L. Bean--and it put at least 1,400 people out of work just before Christmas. Four of the five buildings in the complex were reduced to smoking piles of brick, wood and metal. Thirty-three people were injured, eight critically. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
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