It began very early on Saturday morning. Sirens and more sirens, fire engine after fire engine racing down Route 16. As we left for our morning workout in Milford, we passed engines coming from Wayland, Ashland, Sudbury, Marlboro, Hudson. Looking back to the west we saw a huge cloud of dark, billowing smoke several hundred feet high. What was burning?

A couple hours later, heading home, we decided to continue west and find the source of all the smoke. Nearing the center of Uxbridge, the road was blocked off and we had to turn away. I looked back and saw a dramatic sight: mushroom-shaped clouds of smoke unfurling upward at warp speed. So high I couldn't see their tops from the car. The Bernat Mill — a 350,000-square-foot complex built in the 1820s — was engulfed. Shocked and saddened, we headed home.

FIre trucks — Mansfield, Foxboro — continued to rush to Uxbridge all afternoon, from 71 different Massachusetts and Rhode Island communities. 400 firefighters, 63 engines, 20 ladder trucks — an amazing outpouring of help and cooperation ...