Fire which broke out at 11 am Friday almost completely destroyed the Pepsi Cola bottling plant on South Court Street. Harry L. Crisp, the owner, estimated the loss would be at least $500,000. Firemen from five cities brought the fire under control about 1 pm. Crisp said the cause of the fire was unknown. He said the blaze which started in the southeast corner of one of the two buildings housing the plant was first discovered by J.W. Blue an employee.
The entire south east corner of the plant’s south building was ablaze at that time. Twenty employees at work escaped without injury. One $50,000 bottling line in the southeast section of the plant was destroyed early in the fire. The south building also housed another $100,000 bottling line but the extent of the damage in that part of the plant could not be determined.
A third bottling machine, also valued at $100,000 was located in the north building which was still blazing at 2 o’clock. A six-ton carbon dioxide tank exploded in the south building an hour after the fire was discovered, sending flames 75 feet into the air. Ten thousand dollars worth of sugar also burned in the south building.
The front section of the south building which was two stories high remained standing but the roof of the one story-rear section fell in. Firemen fought the fire from the ground and the roof of the north building which housed the firm’s offices as well as bottling equipment. A brisk south wind swept billowing clouds of smoke from the burning building beneath them, over the north wall and prevented firemen from approaching the blaze from the north. Firemen from West Frankfort, Marion, Johnston City and Carbondale joined Fire Chief Herman May and Marion firemen in fighting the flames.
Police Chief Charles Edwards and Officer Jack Stephens, aided by volunteers, went into the smoke-filled offices and carried out filing cases of records when it appeared the office building would be burned. Water which was poured through the roof by firemen ran in a deep stream out of the office door. State Route 37 in front of the buildings was a labyrinth of fire hose. State police turned traffic around the fire scene as hundreds of spectators gathered. The Pepsi Cola plant was founded by Crisp in 1936 in the south building to which was added the north building as the plant expanded to serve a 23-county territory.
In 1938 Crisp established a second bottling plant at Centralia which still serves the north section of the territory. “The only thing I can say to our customers,” Crisp said after the fire, “is that we’ll be back in operation bigger and better as soon as possible.” Barney Russell, a Marion fireman, was overcome by smoke but was reported in good shape, except for a “terrific headache” at about 2 pm Friday. Russell said they had fought the fire about two hours before he became unconscious. He was taken to his quarters at the fire station after reviving.
(Extracted from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at http://www.marionfire.us )