Empty building burns in south Columbia
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
An abandoned building was engulfed in flames early Tuesday in south Columbia.
Firefighters were called a fire at a building at 2:07 a.m., according to a Columbia Fire Department release. The location, 4140 S. Bearfield Road, is near CMSE Giving Gardens.
However, since the fire was right on the border between county and city fire departments, Columbia Fire Department later handed the case over to the Boone County Fire Department for the investigation of the fire.
"That's what we do," Boone County Assistant Fire Chief, Gale Blomenkamp said. "We run calls in the city and they run calls in the county and it's just one of those things that you take care of business and then you sort it out on the back side."
ABC 17 News arrived at the scene on Bearfield Road just after 2:30 a.m. and saw at least three CFD fire trucks and an ambulance. The release says 10 vehicles and 23 firefighters were at the scene.
According to Columbia Assistant Fire Chief Lester Shewmake, firefighters had to evacuate the building at one point because a portion of the roof caved in due to the fire. But firefighters had the blaze out in about 25 minutes.
According to the Boone County Fire Department, they found no victims at the fire site. They also concluded that due to the building not having access to gas or power, the fire was incendiary, or intentional.
"It just means that somebody had lit the fire intentionally, whether it's warming, cooking, whatever it may be," Blomenkamp said. "So a burning building like that, a lot of vandalism, a lot of squatters so to speak, or people that are inhabiting that building that don't belong there."
Due to the current state of the building, the Boone County Fire Department decided that the building should be removed.
"At this point, the building is deemed unsafe and we have talked to the property owner," Blomenkamp said. "He has put up fencing around that building to try to secure it and keep people out of that building and out of that property, but eventually that building will be coming down."
The exact date for when the building will be demolished is still unclear. However, Blomenkamp is hoping for it to be done within the next month or two.
