FORMER POLAR THERM PLANT BURNS; FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE BLAZE 90 MINUTES

Billy Dalton, 44 South Frederick, used a garden hose to wet trees and salvaged cars in his back yard as burning embers floated above him from the fire at Polar Therm Tuesday afternoon.

Fire of undetermined origin heavily damaged the former Polar Therm plant near Frederick and Independence streets late Tuesday.

Firefighters responded to an alarm at 5:36 p.m. and battled intense, stabbing flames for over an hour and a half. Despite poor water pressure, the fire was brought under control.

"It never really got out of control," said Tom Hinkebein, the Cape Girardeau Fire Department battalion chief and fire marshal at the scene. "We had some problems with the trailers and the rear of the building and some LP, but we brought it all under control."

Chris Newcomb of Charleston was sitting in The Corner Pub on Frederick Street when he looked out the window and saw the huge building on fire.

"Fire was shooting out of the middle of the building," Newcomb said. "We knew it was a goner. We told the bartender to call the fire department."

Polar Therm manufactured cellulose insulation.

There were several tanks of liquid petroleum inside the building and some of the smaller ones did ignite, but a particularly large one did not, Hinkebein said.

Trailers full of tires lined the huge doorways that were used for dropping off materials while the business was in operation. They were put their by Roger Friedrich, the owner, at the request of police, who wanted to make sure that people weren't able to get inside the building.

The building was full of old recyclables, said Friedrich, who owned and operated the business for over seven years. He arrived at the scene almost an hour after the building caught fire.

Friedrich said electricity couldn't have been a factor in starting the fire. "The power has been off for over two years," he said.

He doesn't feel the large quantity of paper and other products made the building an especially high risk: "It wasn't any more of a risk than anybody else's home."

Before it was used as a manufacturing plant, the building was the old J and J Seed Co.

A fire department spokesman said late Tuesday that the extent of the damage had not been determined. It could be weeks before cause of the fire is determined, he said.