It has been a long couple days for the Perry Volunteer Fire Department as several members have put in countless hours of work, trying to make sure the Whiton Feed and Milling Company building at 1101 Otley Avenue stops burning, once and for all.

Fire Chief Chris Hinds says in addition to the initial fire report around 10:30pm Thursday, his department was called back to the scene twice Friday as flames rekindled on the piles of metal, wood and feed left over from the blaze.

A Perry Police Officer was first on the scene Thursday night and when he arrived, Hinds says the interior of the building where the the trucks load and unload on the west side was already completely engulfed in flames.  It took the first fire crew only seven minutes to respond and arrive on scene, but by that time the fire had already spread to the office area on the north side of the feed store.

Chief Hinds says despite their quick response, the fire quickly spread throughout the front of the building, which made any type of interior attack “unsafe and out of the question”.  At that point, firefighters were told to just control the fire as well as they could and try to protect the other Whiton Feed Company buildings that were closely located to the burning feed mill.  At the peak of the fire, flames were visible as far east as Highway 169 and thick, black smoke filled much of the downtown area Thursday night, into Friday morning.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office was called in to assist the Perry Fire Department in investigating the blaze and while the cause of the fire remains unknown, Hinds says it was determined that based upon evidence at the scene the fire most likely started in the enclosed area where the grain and mill trucks load and unload.  The company closes the large overhead doors on each part of this area at the end of each business day and because it was an enclosed area, the two feed delivery trucks inside the building were also lost in the blaze.

More than a dozen Perry Volunteer Firefighters responded to the initial fire call Thursday.  They were assisted by Woodward Fire, Dawson Fire, Perry Police, Dallas County EMS, Grand Junction EMS, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and Dallas County Emergency Management, along with help from the City of Perry and MidAmerican Energy responding to address power outage issues.

There were no injuries reported as a result of the fire, though the building and vehicles in and around the feed store are considered to be a complete loss.

Raccoon Valley Radio will continue to bring you more information as it becomes official.