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June 26, 2009

Officials: Bonnie fire suspicious; under investigation

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

BONNIE — The state fire marshall is investigating a fire which broke out early Friday morning at the Bonnie Community Building.

Jefferson Fire Protection District responded to the fire at 5:13 a.m. Friday.

“It’s suspicious in nature,” said JFPD Chief Mike Huntman. “And we called for the state fire marshall.”

The fire originated in an area reserved for a drop box, where residents could drop off payments to the village, according to officials. The village’s business office received major fire damage. In addition to the business office, the building also housed a meeting room which sustained smoke and water damage, a dining site for the Jefferson County Comprehensive Services Sunshine Center which sustained smoke damage and the Bonnie Police Department which did not receive any damage.

A state fire marshall K-9 unit was called in to the investigation and “alerted officials to a couple of spots,” said JFPD Capt. and Bonnie Mayor Robert Beal. Evidence has been personally transported over to Belleville, he added, and officials were “hoping to get results by this [Friday] afternoon.”

“This has a pretty big impact on this community,” he remarked. “It really hurts us, but as far as day-to-day operations, it’s hindered us. We’re going to check with Lang Furniture and see if we can use one of their facilities for board meetings or maybe check with Ina. I’d like to keep the meetings close for the citizens.”

Beal said the village board was doing all it could to get back in service for residents and a mobile trailer from Marion was expected to arrive Friday afternoon. Paul Pennington of Lipps Construction was bringing in a power pole for electrical hook-up for the trailer, which Beal said would be up and running by Tuesday.

“The Sunshine Center met here every Friday,” he said. “We’re looking at months to get this building back in service.”

Dan Boehmer, Executive Director of Jefferson County Comprehensive Services, said he was aware of the fire and no plans have been made for a temporary dining site for Bonnie.

“We’re hopeful that some of the churches in that area will help out with a temporary site,” he stated.

And though the Bonnie police department is “still functional,” Beal said he didn’t think extra patrol would help keep something like the fire from happening again.

“It’s everywhere. Our police department, even the Mt. Vernon Police Department, they all do an excellent job and do what they can,” he noted. “But the citizens are going to have to help, too. The only way we’re going to be able to do anything about this is for people to watch what’s going on in the area.”

If anyone has information regarding the fire, they are encouraged to call Beal at 244-3824, Bonnie Police Chief Curt Anselment or the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 244-8004.

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