The fire put about 250 employees out of work.

At least 25 people sustained minor injuries and two firefighters were admitted to Griffin Hospital in Derby for smoke inhalation.

Fire Chief Judd Blaze said firefighters were first called to the plant at 9:30 a.m. when a fire broke out in an oven used to dry mattresses. The company makes mattresses and pillows.

Firefighters put the fire out within 30 minutes and were about to leave when an employee called at 10:30 a.m. to say that another fire had broken out in an area of the roof.

When firefighters went to fight the new blaze it erupted into an inferno that sent flames and smoke hundreds of feet into the air. Fire companies from 12 surrounding communities, from Derby to New Haven, responded.

The fire was brought under control just before 3 p.m.

Fire Marshal Ralph Tingley said late Monday that it appears the fire might have started in the roof near the mattress dryer. "We’re still conducting interviews with people and still investigating," he said.

Heavy cranes were brought in late Monday to tear down what was left of the brick and aluminum plant that spanned a city block. Most of the plant collapsed during the fire.

A portion of Main Street remained closed late Monday but should reopen today, officials said.

Peter DeMarco, chief operating officer for Latex Foam, said the fire was "total devastation" and that company officials would take the next 48 hours to decide whether to rebuild.

Mayor James Della Volpe was visibly upset over the fire and called it a "devastating loss to the city."

He said the company is among the city’s five largest employers and taxpayers. He said he hopes to obtain financial help from the state and the federal government .

Gov. John G. Rowland will visit the site at 9 a.m. today to assess the damage.

Latex Foam worker Carnell Wooten shook his head in disbelief as he watched the plumes of smoke rise in the sky.

Wooten had worked at the Sponge Rubber plant in Shelton that was destroyed in an arson fire in 1975 and couldn’t believe that his second place of employment met the same fate.

"I’ve been working here 19 years. This is just unbelievable," he said.

Latex Foam opened in Shelton in 1977 and was started by two former Sponge Rubber employees who used equipment salvaged from the 1975 fire.

Former Ansonia Fire Chief Jim Crowley said he saw the smoke from Naugatuck and came to see the fire, which he described as the worst fire he’s seen in Ansonia.

"This was bad, but the 1975 fire at Sponge Rubber was five times bigger," he said.

Many downtown businesses were evacuated, and more than a dozen elderly residents of a Main Street apartment building were relocated to Ansonia High School.

"I was in the shower when the fire broke out and I heard a loud popping sound," said Bonnie Maloney, who is wheelchair-bound and lives in the apartment building at 290 Main St. She said her neighbor, Merile Rener, banged on her door and helped her get dressed. "Lucky for me she was there to help," said Maloney.

Even though the sun was shining brightly, the fire kept Main Street in the dark and at times looked like a huge swirling tornado. Debris from the fire was reported in the Hilltop section of the city and as far away as Orange, where a one-foot wide chunk of debris was found outside the school offices on Orange Center Road.

Stratford pilot Morgan Kaolian said he was about 1,000 feet above the fire but could still feel its intense heat as he flew overhead.

Local schools in Ansonia, Woodbridge, Bethany, Orange and Milford were advised to shut all doors, windows and vents and to curtail lunch and playtime because of the smoke. Some after-school activities were also cancelled.

Early on there was concern the smoke might contain toxic elements, but the state Department of Environmental Protection said that no asbestos or other toxins were detected in the smoke or the debris. People with respiratory problems. however, were advised to keep their windows closed.

The DEP said 30,000 gallons of latex and 200 gallons of ammonia entered the nearby Naugatuck River from the fire and killed an unknown number of fish.

Latex Foam Health and Safety Director Jim Morrell said he is working with the DEP and that the company has hired a firm to come in and clean up the latex.

Morrell said runoff that entered the river should have low toxicity, but would be "akin to throwing latex paint into the river." He said it would be composed of natural and synthetic latexes.

The fire also caused a drain on the Valley’s water system, as more than two million gallons of water was used to fight the blaze.

Due to low water pressure, Griffin Hospital in Derby was forced to cancel surgeries and had to truck in bottled water to use on patients, said spokeswoman Dorothy Gandy.

John Tomac, president of the Birmingham Water Co., said the fire consumed more water in one day than all its customers would normally consume in two weeks.

Residents of Ansonia and Derby were without water for a few hours Monday, he said. "It’s one of the worst times we’ve had," he said.

This was the second major fire to hit the downtown in less than three years. In October 1998 a fire destroyed an office building in the heart of the city and forced out several owners when 218-220 Main St. burned to the ground. Today there is a "for sale" sign out in front of the vacant lot.

The New Haven Fire Department sent an aerial ladder and engine company to help fight the fire, said New Haven Assistant Fire Chief Michael Grant.

Ironically, Grant said, the last time the city sent firefighters to the Valley was during the 1975 explosion at the Sponge Rubber plant in Shelton.

William Johnson, chief of the West Haven Fire Department, said numerous residents called shortly after the fire started to report smoke and said embers were falling in their yards.

He said reports came in from across the city, but most were from the area of the city’s bike path along the shoreline.

When Johnson returned to his Botte Drive home after work Monday, his porch, too, was littered with embers.

None were burning by the time they reached West Haven, Johnson said, so he never feared a fire hazard.

After fielding calls from city officials, Johnson advised city schools to keep students indoors and shut off air conditioning for the rest of the school day Monday.

Courtesy of WTNH Channel 8