The Lion's Den: Fatal fire victim identified as brewery owner

BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Fire Department confirmed that brewery owner Clyde Reagin "Ray" McNeill's body was found in the fire at McNeill's Brewery on Elliot Street Friday night.

According to a news release, the cause of death will be released once the autopsy results come from the Chief Medical Examiner.

Investigators with the fire department, Brattleboro Police Department and Vermont Department of Public Safety Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit determined the second floor is where the fire started. Brattleboro Fire Chief Len Howard said the cause of the fire will remain undetermined and will not be investigated.

"A lot of the times it's because there's obviously many things that could have caused the fires," he said. "When you can't eliminate any of those causes, you must go undetermined."

McNeill’s Brewery, a fixture on Elliot Street since the early 1990s, was torn down Saturday, hours after a fire ripped through the building’s second floor and claimed the life of its founder and owner. McNeill, 62, also lived upstairs.

In June 2021, Stevens & Associates provided a report to McNeil after the engineering group performed a structural assessment of the building at 90 Elliot St.

"The results of the review were that the two lower floors below the brewery floor are structurally failing, and the building should not be occupied until means are taken to stabilize the building," the news release states.

"A lot of the times it's because there's obviously many things that could have caused the fires," he said. "When you can't eliminate any of those causes, you must go undetermined."

In June 2021, Stevens & Associates provided a report to McNeil after the engineering group performed a structural assessment of the building at 90 Elliot St.

The report found that several joists had failed entirely along the west wall of the structure. The joists supported a large load of storage tanks at the brewery level, according to the news release.