SIKESTON'S RIVER BIRCH MALL BURNS

SIKESTON -- Investigators were trying to determine the origin of a fire that damaged at least three businesses at River Birch Mall early Monday.

Radio Shack, Malco Theater and Freshour Cycle Co. in the mall were damaged by the blaze, although smoke and fire damage occurred throughout the mall, said Capt. Drew Juden of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

No one was injured in the fire, which caused the mall's roof to collapse and took better than three hours to extinguish.

Juden said it will be today or Wednesday before investigators can identify the cause of the fire, which was discovered about 6:50 a.m.

Efforts by firefighters from Sikeston, Dexter and Charleston to control the blaze were hampered when they lost water pressure in the fire loop built around the mall. The loss was attributed to a 10-inch sprinkler pipe inside the mall that broke when the roof collapsed.

Merlin Hagy is the owner of the Book Bug Bookstore, which has been in the mall for 20 years. He said he is unsure of the extent of damages to his business or how long the business will remain closed.

"I don't really know where we're at so far," he said at the scene. "I've got 100,000 books or more in there, and I don't know whether there is water on them or smoke damage or what's taken place. It's a pretty emotional time."

The mall is owned by DeWitt Properties.