ATF investigating Missouri Plastics fire

Federal agents are investigating a fire that destroyed a Jackson recycling plant.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced Monday it had activated its National Response Team and brought in ATF agents from Kansas City, Mo., on Sunday at the request of the state fire marshal's office.

The size of the fire -- not any particular suspicion about its origins -- prompted the federal agents' involvement, an ATF spokeswoman said in a telephone interview Monday.

"It's because of the size of the scene and the resources available," said special agent Trista Frederick, public information officer for the ATF's Kansas City field division. " ... Just because we're there doesn't mean there's anything suspicious."

No one was hurt in the fire, which broke out about 10 p.m. Thursday at the 100,000-square-foot plant at 4751 Route Y, firefighters have reported.

The Missouri Fire Marshal's Office was unable to begin investigating the cause of the fire Saturday, because firefighters still were battling hot spots under the plastics and paper in the building, which is considered a total loss, Dwayne Kirchhoff, chief of the East County Fire Protection District, told the Southeast Missourian.

"From what I understand, the nature of the business can make it difficult," Frederick, the ATF spokeswoman, said Monday.

As investigators sift through what is left of the building, they uncover hot spots, she said.

Exposed to oxygen, areas that had been smoldering quietly can flare up,

endangering investigators, Frederick said.

"Sometimes it can take a day or two to just simply make the structure safe," she said.

On Saturday, Kirchhoff said this is the second time the plant has burned. A 2006 fire caused flare-ups for almost two weeks but did not destroy the building, he said.

In addition to having more manpower and more experts than a local fire department, federal agents have access to technical resources such as Labrador retrievers that are trained to detect the presence of accelerants and computer programs that allow investigators to create three-dimensional models of the building and run simulations of ways the fire might have begun and spread, Frederick said.

"They look at a variety of things, and some of it's ruling out," she said.

Investigators will try to determine where the fire started and what might have caused it, Frederick said.

"Where it started gives you a lot of clues," she said. " ... Sometimes there are things like there might be an appliance or a piece of equipment that have to have further testing."

Frederick said the federal agents work in conjunction with state and local authorities to investigate fires.

Representatives from every fire department in Cape Girardeau County helped fight the fire, Kirchhoff said Saturday.

A Cape Girardeau County sheriff's deputy was stationed near the plant Saturday to watch for possible flare-ups, and Monday, a man answering the phone for the East County Fire Protection District said Fruitland's fire department was sending firefighters out to check the scene every couple of hours.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

4751 Route Y, Jackson, Mo.