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Monday August 4, 2003 11:29 PM
BARDSTOWN, Ky. (AP) - Fire engulfed a wood-frame bourbon warehouse Monday, sending alcohol-fueled flames more than 100 feet in the air.
The Jim Beam warehouse collapsed about two hours after the fire was reported at 3 p.m. and continued burning. There were no reports of injuries.
Firefighters doused two nearby warehouses with water in an attempt to save them, while a fire truck stood by at a third.
``Only one of them is on fire and they're working to make sure that it stays that way and to contain the burning whiskey,'' said Larry Green, city administrator.
Authorities did not know the fire's cause.
A person answering the phone at the Jim Beam headquarters in Deerfield, Ill., could not provide further details.
Warehouse and distillery fires are typically devastating because of the flammable alcohol. In 2000, a fire at a Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg destroyed a seven-story warehouse that held nearly 1 million gallons of aging bourbon in 17,200 barrels.
More than 95 percent of the world's bourbon is produced in Kentucky, where it has been made since the 1780s. More than a half-dozen distilleries are in the region, including Jim Beam, Maker's Mark and Wild Turkey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0...2989427,00.htmlA Burning History
http://www.fireworld.com/magazine/encore.html
