Fish die from bourbon poured into creek after warehouse fire

WEST POINT, Ky. -- Nearly all of the fish in a creek near a whiskey warehouse have died since fire destroyed the building and spilled its contents last week, and state officials have cited owner Jim Beam.

Lightning set the warehouse on fire on Aug. 4, and more than 800,000 gallons of burning bourbon flowed into a retaining pond and then into the creek.

State officials were investigating whether a larger fish kill downstream in the Salt River also is attributable to bourbon in the water.

Water-quality test results from the Salt River won't be ready for several days, said Joseph Schmidt, a scientist with the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection.

Jim Beam will be asked to reimburse the state for money spent responding to the fire and cleaning up the affected waterways.

In 2000, a fire destroyed a seven-story Wild Turkey warehouse, causing a spill into the Kentucky River that killed hundreds of thousands of fish along 66 miles of waterway. Wild Turkey paid $256,000 to the state.

More than 95 percent of the world's bourbon is produced in Kentucky.