The Mississippi Department of Transportation in Marion County and District Seven suffered “a significant loss” Wednesday night when a fire severely damaged the maintenance building at the Foxworth facility.
The fire began shortly after 5 p.m. All of the employees were gone for the day. The initial call was received at dispatch at 5:40 p.m.
While several departments arrived quickly to help bring the fire under control, the fire rekindled after midnight around 12:40 a.m., causing even further damage.
It appears to have been an electrical fire started by one of the trucks in the building, according to MDOT District Engineer Albert White.
The fire marshal inspected the scene Thursday morning but an official report has not been filed and the matter is still being investigated.
White said on the scene Wednesday night that they were just looking at what was loss and what was not.
There were no injuries, he said, and he appreciated how fast everyone came to help with the fire.
“It’s a major loss for us and a major impact in this county with the equipment that is down. Thankfully the tractors were out on the road,” White said.
White said they would begin evaluating what was lost on Thursday after the fire marshal had finished. In a phone interview Thursday afternoon, he said the state insurance people should be there next week to begin figuring out how much the damage was.
White said hopefully by Tuesday the workers will be able to get back to mowing and somewhat of a normal routine.
MDOT lost three work trucks, including one mechanic truck that handles three counties, in the fire. Also lost were a lot of small equipment, such as weed eaters and chain saws, along with materials and supplies, and the building was badly damaged.
Eric Hutto, maintenance superintendent at the Foxworth office, was shook up at the scene Wednesday night.
He had already been at home when he received a phone call from the sheriff’s office saying the building was on fire.
“Too much stuff was burnt,” he said.
Coming back on Thursday and seeing even more damaged from the early morning rekindling, Hutto said you couldn’t tell the difference between weed eaters and chainsaws inside the building.
Stephen Foxworth with the Foxworth Fire Department said Wednesday night when they first arrived on scene all that could be seen was smoke coming out at the top of the building. You could see a little more damage on the outside of the building facing north, he said.
By the time they drove to the south side, the Columbia Fire Department arrived, and the Columbia firemen immediately went into the building and had the fire under control within 30 minutes.
Foxworth, Southwest Marion and Tri-Community volunteer fire departments and the Columbia Fire Department responded.
