Columbia Fire Marshals determine Sunday night fire to be ‘incendiary’

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Fire Department says a structure fire just north of Business Loop 70 on Sunday night was caused after someone started a fire outside the building.

According to a press release from the Columbia Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched to a commercial structure fire in the 500 block of Nebraska Avenue on Sunday at 8:16 p.m.

Columbia Fire spokeswoman Katherine Rodriguez said the first crew arrived within five minutes and found heavy smoke and flames showing from the warehouse.

Rodriguez said in the press release firefighters forced entry into the building and put the fire out within 20 minutes.

Columbia Fire Marshals determined this to be an incendiary fire caused by an unhoused person camping in the area. There were no obvious signs of an ignition source, but it did start outside the building, according to Columbia Fire.

The Columbia Police Department has been requested by CFD to assist in the investigation.

"The structure and contents are valued at $750,000, and CFD’s efforts limited dollar loss to approximately $200,000," Columbia Fire said in the release.

The fire was under control just before 9 p.m., but crews remained on scene to check for any hot spots.

A total of 13 units responded to this incident and no injuries were reported.

There were no working smoke detectors or alarms, according to the press release.