VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Crews worked Thursday to contain a fire at a casket manufacturing facility after flames engulfed a lumber storage area, officials said.
Investigators from several agencies were on the scene after the five-alarm fire at the Batesville Casket Co. plant on U.S. Route 61 started Wednesday night in an area where wood was stored, Vicksburg Fire Chief Keith Rogers said.
The blaze was out of control for more than three hours, Rogers said, and flames could be seen from a mile away. Firefighters from the Vicksburg Municipal Airport and other city stations responded to the blaze.
One storage area, or blowbox, was immersed in flames when the first unit arrived, Rogers said. Firefighters used a water curtain to block a second area from the fire.
The Vicksburg Fire Department is coordinating the probe into the cause of the blaze with the state fire marshal's office, Rogers said. Investigators with the fire department, fire marshal's office and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were on the scene Thursday.
''This could take an hour, it could take weeks, depending on what we can find,'' said fire investigator Leslie Decareaux.
Authorities believe employees working when the fire started were on a break and away from the storage areas. No injuries to employees were reported, but four firefighters were treated at the scene for dehydration, Rogers said.
Plant manager Mark McDonald said he was ''concentrating on taking care of customers'' and declined further comment. No damage estimate was available.
Rogers said firefighters used company forklifts to save what could be salvaged from the second blowbox.
About 240 workers are employed at the Vicksburg plant, which opened in 1980 and accepts hardwoods and other timber and sends it to finishing plants in Batesville, Miss. and in Nashua, N.H.
Batesville Casket is based in Batesville, Ind., and is the largest casket manufacturer in the nation.
