Fire engulfs Kentucky bourbon house
Alcohol-fuelled flames leapt 100ft into the sky as fire engulfed a seven-storey bourbon warehouse in Kentucky.
The Jim Beam building collapsed completely about two hours after it caught fire yesterday. The company said it held about 19,000 barrels of bourbon.
There were no reports of injuries, and firefighters doused two nearby warehouses with water in an attempt to save them.
Bourbon from the warehouse ran off into a nearby creek and caught fire and firefighters began to dam up the area, said Fire Chief Anthony Mattingly.
Emergency officials in Bardstown did not know what caused the fire, but the company said lightning was to blame.
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 warehouse holding nearly one million gallons of ageing bourbon in 17,200 barrels.
More than 95% of the world’s bourbon is produced in Kentucky, where it has been made since the 1780s. More than half a dozen distilleries are in the region, including Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Wild Turkey.
