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This Week in Connecticut History: Massive industrial arson changed Shelton

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – This week in Connecticut history, a mammoth fire changed a Connecticut city.

March 1, 1975, overnight in Shelton, explosions and raging fire at the BF Goodrich Sponge Rubber Factory blew out windows and shook the neighborhood.

The fire raged until the next day. No one was killed, but the fire was no accident. Eight men on the company’s board of directors were found guilty of firebombing the factory for insurance money,

At the time, the FBI called it the biggest industrial arson case in America. Around 900 people lost their jobs, and the Shelton economy took years to recover.