An explosive fire tore through an old Barwick Mills plant in downtown LaFayette on Saturday, reports timesfreepress.com.
Nobody was inside the building and no firefighters had been injured as of Saturday night. Authorities won’t know what started the fire until the remains of the structure cool down and they can investigate.
The first 911 calls came in around 2 p.m. when neighbors noticed flames at the southern tip of the building. A police officer also saw smoke, said LaFayette City Manager David Hamilton, and called the fire department.
Soon, thick, black smoke could be seen from more than a dozen miles away and neighbors were crowding the scene to watch as roiling walls of flame consumed the building.
The old plant ceased operation in the early to mid 1990s, Hamilton said. It used to make textiles. The southern half of the old plant was being leased out, and a fire wall separated the southern and northern halves. As of Saturday evening, the fire had been confined to the southern half.
Authorities aren’t sure what was in the building, making putting it out difficult. Saturday evening firefighters were letting the fire burn out, and Hamilton said crews would soon begin knocking down the building’s walls so they wouldn’t collapse on either the firefighters or the adjacent train tracks.
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