BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

The Purdy Farm Center’s fertilizer building was destroyed by a fire on Friday night, one that grew quickly and presented threats of explosions.

Nick Mercer, Purdy fire chief, said crews received the call at about 5:30 p.m., arriving at the facility at 100 W. Washington Ave., directly behind the fire station, to find heavy black smoke pouring from the building.

‘The building was pushing thick, black smoke, and fire was showing on one side,’ Mercer said. ‘Firefighting activity lasted about an hour-and-a-half.’

Authorities closed off a three-block radius surrounding the building due to explosion concerns due to fertilizer in the building.

‘We had five minor explosions,’ Mercer said. ‘But, we believe that was equipment inside the building, like the front loader.’

Mercer said due to the extent of the damage, a source of the blaze and cause remain undetermined.

‘We suspect it started with machinery inside the building, but we cannot confirm that,’ Mercer said.

Crews left the scene at about 10:30 p.m., with the last half of the effort consisting of diluting fertilizer runoff.

‘We were able to dilute it to a safe level with the extra water, so there is no threat to the community,’ Mercer said.

Adjacent to the train tracks, Mercer said there were no trains scheduled to come through during that evening, and railroad crews have checked the ties and confirmed the tracks were not affected.

A total of 63 personnel with 17 apparatus from seven fire departments responded, as well as three law enforcement agencies and the Barry-Lawrence Ambulance District.

Sarah Woodward and Dustin Woodward, co-owners of Purdy Farm Center, said dealing with a massive fire was a new experience for them.

‘We’ve been really fortunate to never have to deal with anything like this in our personal lives or business,’ Sarah Woodward said. ‘It’s been kind of a shock, and we are just in the process of getting back to how things were running before.’

Purdy Farm Center has six total buildings on its property, and with only the fertilizer building being destroyed, other business is continuing as usual.

‘We’re still making feed and all of our other products, and our storefront is open,’ Dustin Woodward said. ‘We are working very hard and as fast as possible to get everything back up and running before the spring for our fertilizer customers. We have some set plans and are just waiting on insurance to move forward.

‘We’ve visited some other fertilizer plants to get some ideas, and we are doing all we can to move forward as fast as possible.’

Sarah Woodward extended her thanks to the first responders, who were able to keep damage to just the one structure.

‘The fact it was early enough in the day people saw it and called it in, and the fire departments all responded quickly — that totally kept it from being more damaging,’ she said. ‘It is a loss, but it could have been much worse.