LAMAR, Mo. — A fire that began Wednesday night in Lamar destroyed nearly one-third of the 1.5-million-square-foot former O’Sullivan Industries building.
The building was still burning early Thursday afternoon but the fire was contained, according to Lamar Fire Chief Rick Heinen. It was one of the largest warehouse and production sites in Southwest Missouri.
According to a statement by the city of Lamar, at 11:22 p.m. Wednesday the Lamar Fire Department received a call from a resident near 1900 Gulf Proprieties, site of the building. On arrival the fire department found a working structure fire and requested mutual aid from area departments, with Liberal, Golden City, Jasper, Carthage and Pittsburg, Kansas, departments responding.
“It is estimated that roughly 500,000 square feet of the property and contents has been destroyed,” according to a city statement.
The fire is being investigated by the Lamar Police Department in conjunction with the Missouri State Fire Marshall’s Office. Two “people of interest” have been detained for questioning, the city said in its statement.
The site is currently owned by a group called 1900 Gulf Properties and space is leased to several companies.
Lamar City Administrator Rusty Rives said Thursday afternoon that the fire will be a blow to the businesses that now operate in the plant because it destroyed a large amount of storage space.
“A lot of the plant is still usable,” Rives said. “It’s really hard to tell right now what the biggest impact will be. The largest hit I can see quickly to local businesses is the product loss and logistical issue of replacing and storing that product.”
Rives said the fire will likely burn for a couple of days.
The original part of the building was constructed in the early 1950s and occupied by Rotary Power Motor. It was later occupied by Lawn-Boy and then O’Sullivan’s in 1964. O’Sullivan left in 2007, and the site was purchased by 1900 Gulf Properties and has been primarily used for storage since that time, according to the city.