“Once in awhile, you get a vagrant or homeless person in there but that might be a cooking fire or keep warm fire — it’s not arson,” said Asst. Springfield Fire Chief Rodney Rahrle. “These are definitely ‘trying to burn the building down’ type events.”
The property, located at 1401 Sheridan Ave. in Springfield, caught fire on Sunday and burned for about three and a half hours before it was contained. Rahrle said crews found multiple fires set within the complex.
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Some of those fires had to be fought from the outside because there are some sections of the complex that are not accessible.
The property is on the department’s, “unsafe structure policy,” which means the department does not make entry into the building unless it is verified someone is inside, according to documents previously obtained by the Springfield News-Sun.
According to fire division documents from January 2003, the Cooper Energy property is, “considered to be extremely hazardous to personnel.”
Those documents say reasons why the property is considered hazardous include — no sprinkler system, heavy fire load, contents scattered about inside the building, large spaces inside that can lead to disorientation and that the building is unsecured.
Springfield fire officials were tipped off about the potential for a fire at the property on Sunday after they were called by the property’s owner, Mosier Industrial, after Mosier’s owners spotted people inside the building on security cameras.
“[Sunday], we got some notification from the owner that there were people in the building with a gas can,” Rahrle said.
Rahrle said they were about four minutes behind the fire when they arrived on scene.
“We were close. We are going to eventually catch them,” Rahrle said.
The Springfield News-Sun reached out to Mosier Industrial for comment about the fire and did not receive a response.
In all six fire reports about the six individual fires, which occurred twice on Aug. 20, and once each on Aug. 30, Sept. 28, Sept. 29 and Sunday, the Springfield Fire Division refers to the causes of the fires as either, “suspicious,” “highly suspicious,” or “incendiary.”
Rahrle said the multiple fires at the large property are, “wearing,” on the fire department.
He said some firefighters have been hurt while responding to fires at the property, and on Sunday, several off-duty firefighters were called in to fight the fire at Cooper Energy and another house fire on Scott Street.
“That pretty much takes every piece of equipment we have,” Rahrle said.
In addition to taking a toll on firefighters — people who live in the area say they are fed up with the fires and other problems that the property causes for the neighborhood.
“It’s a danger to our community,” said Alyson Kunkle. “(On Sunday) we had to close all the windows and keep the kids in the house — There was black smoke.”
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Kunkle, like some other neighbors, say the best thing to stop the problem would be to tear it down.
In documents previously obtained by the Springfield News-Sun, Mosier Industrial’s owner told a Springfield Fire official by phone on Sept. 3 the company wanted to demolished the property and would be pulling the necessary paperwork.
City officials have told the Springfield News-Sun that they have not received any necessary documentation for demolition.
Jack White, who lives near the property said something needs to be done.
He guessed it wouldn’t be long before someone would be back in the building causing trouble.
“(The fire) will probably get bigger if they don’t catch the guy or whoever is doing it,” he said.
The fire department is asking anyone with surveillance footage immediately before the fire or immediately after to come forward, so they can compare it with pictures they received from cameras at Cooper Energy.
6: number of fires at former Cooper Energy site since Aug. 20
530,000: square footage of the property
18: years property has been vacant
The Springfield News-Sun has been digging into issues surrounding vacant properties in the city. The News-Sun has extensively covered the fires at Cooper Energy and the demolition of the Crowell-Collier building in downtown.