Hanxter

Bardstown bourbon burns
Lightning apparently struck warehouse

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER
and LISA HORNUNG
The Courier-Journal

BARDSTOWN, Ky. — About 800,000 gallons of Jim Beam bourbon burned yesterday after lightning struck a warehouse, sending flames soaring into the sky and dumping streams of burning liquor into a nearby creek.

No one was injured in the blaze. It was the third major bourbon industry fire in Central Kentucky since the Bardstown-based Heaven Hill distillery burned in 1996.

Officials at Jim Beam, Kentucky's largest bourbon producer, and emergency personnel said a lightning strike apparently sparked the fire. It was reported at 3:01 p.m., Bardstown police said . The area was experiencing a heavy thunder storm at the time.

Flames shot high into the air yesterday in Nelson County after lightning struck. About 800,000 gallons of bourbon burned. The fire at the Jim Beam distillery was the third major bourbon industry fire in Central Kentucky since 1996.

The bourbon was in 19,000 barrels, an amount the Deerfield, Ill.-based company said is less than 2 percent of its inventory of aging bourbon.

Chief Anthony Mattingly of the Bardstown Fire Department said firefighters initially were hampered by soggy ground surrounding the building and were forced to run water hoses to the warehouse by hand.

By the time they arrived, at least a quarter of the warehouse was engulfed, officials said, leaving firefighters to turn their attention to trying to stop the flames from spreading to two other warehouses.

By about 5 p.m., the risk to the nearby warehouses appeared to have p assed , but Mattingly said he expected firefighters to stay at the site until after midnight.

T he state fire marshal's office and the Louisville office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were expected to investigate the fire .

Agents from the state Department of Environmental Protection also responded to see if the flaming stream of bourbon running out of the warehouse into Withrow Creek would cause environmental problems .

Emergency officials temporarily closed Ky. 245 in Bardstown as the flaming bourbon flowed down the creek toward a hastily erected dam designed to prevent it from getting into Beech Fork River.

"We are grateful that no one was harmed, and we appreciate the efforts of the first responders and the local firefighting personnel," said Rich Reese, CEO and president of Jim Beam.

In 2000, a fire at the Wild Turkey distillery near the Kentucky River in Lawrenceburg interrupted water service for more than 20,000 Anderson County residents. Schools and businesses were shut down for a long weekend as a result of the fire, which destroyed about 20,000 barrels of whisky and a seven-story storage facility.

In the 1996 Heaven Hill Distilleries blaze, 95,000 barrels of high-proof whisky and 50-mph winds combined to create one of the worst bourbon industry fires on record.

But David Leo, a coordinator with the emergency - response division of the Department of Environmental Protection, said the impact from yesterday's fire does not appear to be as serious as the previous fires.

Flaming bourbon flowed into a containment pond on the property and then overflowed into Withrow Creek, he said. From there the bourbon passed the Ky. 245 bridge, some of it escaping before the temporary dam could be erected.

But Leo said neither of the two water companies in Nelson County take s its water from that creek, and drinking water would not be affected.

"That's the one thing we looked at, to see where any water intakes were," Leo said. "The next concern is to see how much of the material got into the creek."

If too much alcohol entered the creek, he said, it could deplete the oxygen in the water and kill fish.

Mayor Dixie Hibbs, who said she also is Bardstown's unofficial historian, said the blaze struck at one of the key elements of the city's civic pride.

"Historically, we have an appreciation for the art and history of making bourbon," Hibbs said. "We like to consider ourselves the bourbon capital of the world."

Nearly all the bourbon in the world is made in Kentucky, and Nelson County claims four major distilleries — Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Heaven Hill and Barton — as its own, although Maker's Mark and Jim Beam actually are just across the county lines in Marion and Bullitt counties, respectively . The Jim Beam warehouse that burned yesterday is in Nelson County , however .

In 2001, bourbon distillers sold nearly 13.1 million cases nationwide, worth more than $3 billion.

Hibbs said a bourbon warehouse at the same property as yesterday's fire burned in 1968, long before Jim Beam bought the site.

LINKAGE

maxero

i dont think the fish will be that happy ;o

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cough

floonine

Talk about your catastrophes...

Since when has it been the Bureau of "Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ?"

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troit

Sound like the perfect time to me to get me butt down there and take water samples... just to make sure the contamination won't affect those in the area...

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Cynthetiq

awww.. I love Jim Beam...

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Leviathan[NCV]

Whew, Jack is still safe...

World's King

I'll say a prayer.

*bows head*

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

TaLoN

exactly what i was thinking

uncle phil

it's still bourbon...(/me wipes a tear away...)

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never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

WhoaitsZ

jim bean made many mean
but you were always good to me
and i remember
surprised my thoughts didn't wither
what true drunkeness could mean


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-teadrop-

merkerguitars

damn thats alot of good alcohol to waste....at least they can make more.

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Looften

I always knew there was a simpler way of creating a trout filet in bourbon sauce.