Cause of vacant building fire considered ‘criminal in intent’

The early Saturday morning fire at 408 Rock Street consumed a vacant structure which had previously been condemned by the city. The Hannibal Fire Department initially responded to the fire, which kept rekindling throughout the day. Sunday morning, a demolition crew was called in to take the remainder of the building down. Photo by Meghan Karr, assistant superintendent of the Hannibal Public Schools.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

The Hannibal Fire Department was at the scene of an around-the-clock conflagration Saturday and Sunday, May 1 and 2, fighting a spectacular blaze in a condemned building at 408 Rock Street.

Flames were visible in the abandoned structure, which had a green “condemned” sign on the door, when firefighters answered the 6:45 a.m. (Saturday, March 1) alarm.

“We did have enough people to fight the fire,” said Chief Ryan Neisen, “that was the one positive. The fire call came in at shift change, so two shifts (18 firefighters) were able to respond.”

During the fire, the roof of the structure collapsed, leaving a pile of debris in the center of the building, impeding access to the fire. “We had to put out hot spots from the exterior,” Chief Neisen said.

The fire company’s two aerial ladder trucks were utilized to fight the exhaustive blaze.

“We had the initial response,” Chief Neisen said. “We left the scene for a short period of time, came back, left and came back, then stayed for the remaining time.”

“The wind was blowing, and kept kicking up the hot spots.

“In total, we were there approximately 24 hours. The bulk of incident was 6-7 hours; the remaining time was putting out hot spots, making sure we didn’t have flair ups, because with the issue with the building next door,” he said, referring to a nearby structure at 412 Rock Street.

“Our guys did a great job making sure the building next door had only minimal damage - (some of) the siding melted - but overall a success. One of our focuses, initially there was heavy fire condition showing on the main building, and our guys did a great job of protecting the structure next door.

“It was very cold and windy. With the amount of water we were using, and the icy conditions at the scene, it was a difficult, long fire. I’m proud of our guys.”

Fire cause

“There was no power to the building,” Chief Neisen said, “no utilities. It was unoccupied.

(The cause of the fire) was ruled undetermined, criminal in nature. Due to the amount of damage and the structural stability of the building, we couldn’t get in there to do a full investigation.”

The building had been on the city’s watch list for some time. “The building had some issues prior to catching on fire,” Chief Neisen said. “It has been addressed by the building commission and City Hall.”

Neison said that firefighters stayed at the scene overnight, “until we could get the building demolished Sunday.”

Mike Roberts and his demolition crew “brought in a track hoe and safely demolished the building,” Neisen said.