By Toni Lepeska
The Commercial Appeal
SOUTHAVEN, Tenn. — Southaven firefighters beat down a blaze Monday afternoon at a warehouse hit during last week’s tornadoes and expected to be at the site through this morning to make sure the fire was extinguished.
No one was injured in the fire at Warehouse 86, which sent a huge plume of black smoke into the DeSoto County sky in the area around State Line and Airways roads. The warehouse is leased by a merchandise salvage company and a medical distribution business.
The cause was not immediately determined, but workers speculated clean-up from last week’s tornado damage could have resulted in sparks that started the blaze.
As firefighters continued their work late Monday, officials expected to use heavy equipment, nearby to remove storm debris, to pull down the walls the tornado left to make sure no fire remained.
Firefighters couldn’t enter the building to check for hotspots, Southaven Mayor Greg Davis said, because of danger from exploding ammunition stored at the warehouse, southwest of Airways Boulevard and State Line Road.
Two propane tanks also were situated well inside the 246,000-square-foot warehouse. Firefighters sprayed water in their direction to prevent the gas from being ignited.
Southaven firefighters, later joined by Horn Lake firefighters, worked beyond the reaches of walls should they have collapsed. They shot streams of water from a half dozen fire vehicles.
“It’s going to be a long night,” Davis remarked as the sun began to set.
The same city workers who scrambled in the aftermath of the tornadoes that raked the Southaven warehousing area last Tuesday were alerted to the fire at 2:41 p.m. by a police sergeant working security in the area.
“It’s hardship upon hardship,” Mayor Davis said. “You think you’re getting past one hurdle and something else happens.”
He was grateful that no one was injured in the fire, saying “concrete, steel, we can replace.”
The massive fire blackened the Southaven skyline and drew spectators, kept to the outskirts of the fire and well out of the way of emergency crews.
One passerby was a firefighter at the Cayce Volunteer Fire Department in Marshall County . He stopped temporarily to help, and said he was assigned to monitor a piece of fire equipment shooting water.
“Hot,” said the volunteer, in a hurry to get home and unwilling to give his name. “Smoke conditions are bad.”
David Dixon, a Horn Lake man in the area making coffee and bottled water deliveries, drove a few miles to get a closer look at the fire.
“I saw the smoke. I was down on Church Road,” he said. “I said, ‘What is that?’”
IDI, which also has warehousing in Shelby County, owns Warehouse 86. At least two IDI officials were at the scene in Southaven.
“The main thing is nobody’s hurt,” said IDI’s Ray Dill. “It was nearly a total loss before the fire started. Now ...”