UPDATE, 2 a.m. Saturday, March 22: Fire crews were still working to extinguish the final flames from the Friday night fire at Beatrice's abandoned Dempster Manufacturing plant after 2 a.m. Saturday - meaning a fire that reportedly began around 9:15 p.m. Friday took at least five hours to fully contain. 

Beatrice Fire and Rescue, from its nearby headquarters, anchored the response, with assistance from Beatrice Rural, Fairbury and others - some off-duty personnel were called in as part of the wide-scale efforts to curtail the initial blaze.

By midnight Saturday, the brunt of the blaze seemed largely under control. Only a couple of vehicles and a dozen or so firefighters remained on the scene, but the issue was far from settled. Two firefighters elevated on cranes rained down nonstop from above for hours, attacking the top tier of the building and the railing around the roof. Meanwhile, ground crews continuously worked to tamp down a resurgent fire from a room just off the main doors, a fire that seemed to pop back up multiple times between 12:30 and 2. 

All the while, smoke billowed up into the night sky and continued its trajectory north towards the heart of downtown Beatrice. The smoke stretched for dozens of stories into the sky at its peak, and could easily be seen for miles west on Highway 136 and south of Highway 77 early Saturday morning. Police had the whole region around Sixth Street cordoned off, warning bystanders when they got too close to the main burn site. 

There was no word from the scene regarding cause of the fire, an injury report, or an assessment of damages as fire crews were still actively working to contain the blaze. We will provide a full update with a readout from Beatrice Fire during the day Saturday on KWBE and News Channel Nebraska, so stay tuned for further information from what appears to be a situation on its way to getting fully under control.

 

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BEATRICE, Neb. — An abandoned manufacturing facility is burning in Beatrice overnight.

Fire crews responded to a fire at the former Dempster Manufacturing plant around 9:15 Friday night. Beatrice Fire and Rescue immediately recalled all off-duty personnel to help in response.

The fire department initially posted on social media and said, “the situation is under control and contained to a small area.” The department later updated the post to say, “the fire has spread. Please avoid the area for your safety.”

Photos and video from the scene show the plant completely engulfed with flames shooting several stories high out of the roof.

The facility dates back to 1878 when Charles Dempster started the Dempster Mill Manufacturing company. It primarily built windmills until eventually shifting to water pumps, cultivators, fertilizer spreaders, gasoline products, and recycling trailers. At its peak, the plant employed 500 people.

The facility has been abandoned for years and has been condemned. As of November, the city had acquired about half of the property and had demolished two of the buildings on site. City officials had been working for years with the Environmental Protection Agency to remove contaminates from the site.

There is no word yet on how the fire started.