Major fire hits vacant former dairy building in Hamilton

By the time Hamilton firefighters arrived at the former French Bauer Dairy building four minutes after a fire was reported Sunday evening, flames already were bursting through the building’s roof.

Firefighters already had decided the three-story concrete-and brick vacant dairy building at 551 N. 6th St. was so structurally unsound that they had declared it a place they would not enter if a fire broke out.

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“The fire was very advanced when they got there,” said Deputy Fire Chief Lawrence Gassert. “The fire was burning through the roof.”

Nine fire apparatus and 22 firefighters extinguished the fire, which was reported at 9:51 p.m. The first unit arrived at 9:55 p.m.

The blaze was controlled by about midnight, Gassert said. The last firefighters left the scene at 5:44 a.m. Monday.

A fire happened in another building, a single-story wooden garage-type building, on the same site in October.

Fire officials are continuing to investigate the cause, but because gas and electricity were disconnected and the building was vacant, those are ruled out as causes.

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