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September 7, 2006

Fire guts Wiley Center in Pawtucket

PAWTUCKET -- An early-morning fire that investigators believe was electrical in origin gutted the offices of the George Wiley Center, an organization of antipoverty activists that has campaigned aggressively to stop utility shutoffs in the state.

The fire, which broke out around 5 a.m. today in the Wiley Center’s small storefront office at 50 East Ave., temporarily left the organization without a headquarters.

No one was hurt in the fire. Fire Chief Timothy P. McLaughlin said it appeared to have started in an extension cord or electrical appliance in the Wiley Center while the office was closed.

Maggi Rogers, a volunteer with Wiley Center’s Campaign to End Childhood Poverty, said the center has been offered temporary office space at Project Hope, the social agency operated by the Diocese of Providence in Central Falls at 400 Dexter St.

No decision has been made yet, Rogers said. The organization is still cataloguing its losses. But the Wiley Center is known for its resilience, and Rogers said it will persevere.

"We’ve got to see what we’ve got. We’ve got to see what we need. And we will rise from the ashes like a phoenix,’’ she declared.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

Henry Shelton, the Wiley Center’s longtime coordinator, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Witnesses described him as shaken.

Despite the fire, most, if not all, of the building’s tenants said they would be open for business, including Blackstone Picture Frame, 34 East Ave., and the Singer Factory Service Center, 38 East Ave., a sewing machine repair shop that has been in business 35 years. The only exception was Rhode Island Taekwondo, a school for martial arts at 36 East Ave.

R. Thomas Magill, a retired Pawtucket firefighter running against Mayor James E. Doyle in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, has his campaign headquarters on the second floor of the building. "We were very fortunate’’ the fire was stopped before it spread, Magill said. "Five days before the election, it would have been devastating,’’ he said.

-- -- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:28 PM | Permalink

September 7, 2006

Fire guts Wiley Center in Pawtucket

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