Burdette school fire deemed 'suspicious'

A fire that destroyed a former elementary in an eastern Mississippi County town appears to have been set deliberately, officials said Tuesday.

The fire razed the old Burdette Elementary School on South Hickory Lane and damaged part of the town's community center and City Hall building early Sunday morning.

Burdette Volunteer Assistant Fire Chief Tommy Miller said his department received the call that the school was burning at 2:09 a.m. Sunday when a person living near the school saw flames shooting out of the building.

"All the rooms of the school were fully engulfed," Miller said.

He said he couldn't comment on the fire because its cause was still under investigation. He said he suspected it was "suspicious in origin."

The fire destroyed the one-story, wood and brick building, he said. Heat caused vinyl siding on the city's community center and City Hall to melt and a floor on the north and west sides of the building was damaged. Burdette Mayor James Sullivan estimated damages to be between $8,000 and $10,000.

Miller said fire marshals were continuing their investigation into the fire's cause Tuesday. The building's electrical meter had been removed years ago, but wires leading to the building were still charged, the assistant chief said.

Firefighters from Burdette and Blytheville contained the blaze by about 4:30 a.m.

The school complex, which also contains a high school building and a gymnasium, was built in 1939 under the Works Progress Administration. The school closed in 2000 when the Blytheville School District, which owned the campus, decided repairs would be to costly to make.

Two years later, the complex was placed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Lightning caused a fire that destroyed an out building on the former school's campus a few years ago, Sullivan said.

The buildings were given to the city of Burdette in 2000, Sullivan said. A charter school considered relocating there, and Mississippi County discussed using the buildings for storage of old records. A group also discussed converting them into a museum.

"No one wanted to spend the money to repair them," Sullivan said. "It's been going downhill since. We've seen a lot of vandalism, copper theft and windows broken."

Officials will continue their investigation this week to determine the cause, Sullivan said.

State Desk on 09/23/2015

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