LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Authorities are investigating the cause of a massive fire that happened at a vacant warehouse in the Smoketown neighborhood.
According to Louisville Fire’s Battalion Chief Bobby Cooper, it happened at a four-story warehouse at the intersection of Caldwell and Jackson Street around 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Dozens of people stood outside as smoke and flames engulfed the building. Witnesses told WHAS11 they saw the fire from southern Indiana.
Mark Bramwel was walking down the street when he saw the fire.
"It was like 20-foot flames flowing up in the air from right there," he said.
Residents went outside to see what had happened after they heard firetrucks.
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"I just started smelling smoke when I came outside," community member Elizabeth Coleman said. She added she lost power due to the fire.
The 60,000-square-foot building belongs to Wayside Christian Mission.
"We're pretty devastated right now we lost an important part of our ministry today," Nina Moseley, chief operations officer at Wayside Christian Mission, said.
More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene, according to Cooper. They were initially going to fight the fire from the inside but had to be evacuated because the blaze progressed rapidly.
He added part of the building had collapsed in the incident.
Mosely said it was hard watching parts of the building collapse as they used it to store furniture and other materials.
"The roof collapsed, the wall collapsed, more flames would shoot up; it was pretty. I never seen anything like it in my life," she said.
Moseley said they're grateful no one was inside the building when the fire happened. Wayside bought the building eight years ago.
At this time, Moseley asked the community to keep them in mind as they get through this tough time.
"Right now we need a lot of prayers and it will take us a day or two to process all of this," she said.
It took crews nearly three hours to get the fire under control.
No injuries were reported.
Moseley told WHAS11 there are reports of intruders invading their building days before the fire happened. Officials said those reports are now part of their investigation.
Fire crews are still on site as of Tuesday morning.
It is still an active scene so Cooper told the public to continue to avoid the area.
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