Fire continues to smolder in Fruitland

Nearly 24 hours after it started, the fire that destroyed Flickerwood Farms continued to smolder.

"I'm looking out the back door, and yes, there's still smoke coming out of it," chief Dean Riley of the Fruitland Area Fire Protection District said Wednesday afternoon.

Riley said the fire, which began about 4 p.m. Tuesday at the baled wood shaving and feed byproduct business at 3027 Larch Lane, could continue burning indefinitely.

"It's large amounts of sawdust, and it will probably burn forever," he said. "I don't think we could put enough water on it to put it out."

Riley said the property owner had spoken with the fire marshal, but the cause of the fire remained undetermined.

Lt. David James of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department said the fire did not appear to have been intentionally set.

The extent of the damage could make it impossible to figure out how the fire started, Riley said.

"A lot of times, when everything's gone like that, it may always be left as undetermined," he said.

Firefighters left at about midnight -- about eight hours after they arrived -- Riley said, but the property owners and some employees were at the scene Wednesday, keeping an eye on the fire in case it flared up again.

Firefighters had not been called back to the scene Wednesday, but Riley said the dense sawdust and the building's mostly metal construction create the potential for flames to rekindle.

Fire can get trapped under a large piece of metal and smolder until it runs out of fuel, Riley said.

None of the company's 11 employees was injured in the fire, co-owner Donna Boardman said Tuesday.

Boardman, who with her husband, Mark, has owned Flickerwood Farms for more than 20 years, said the building was insured.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

3027 Larch Lane, Fruitland, MO