Blaze shuts down Rubbermaid plant

A fire at Jackson's Rubbermaid plant around noon Thursday caused the factory to shut down temporarily while firefighters extinguished a blaze that was confined to a piece of painting equipment.

Jackson fire Capt. Jason Mouser said a sprinkler system extinguished 90 percent of the fire before the fire department arrived.

Fire chief Brad Golden was the first to arrive on the scene and saw smoke rising from the roof. Because of the size of the building, Golden immediately called for mutual aid from Cape Girardeau.

No damage was done to the structure of the building, Mouser said.

The equipment that caught fire was a painting booth area that applies paint to the metal racks that the factory manufactures.

"This goes to show the importance of sprinklers," Mouser said. "It kept the fire in the paint booth area and all we had was just a few minor hot spots we had to extinguish. We didn't use but half a tank of water off the truck."

Firefighters were on the scene for about an hour.

Golden said the factory was evacuated by the time he got there.

The spokesperson for Jackson's Rubbermaid plant did not return a telephone message left at her office Thursday afternoon.