Crews battle blaze at Rend Lake Tungsten Carbide

Fire fighters from multiple area departments worked at the scene of an industrial park fire from Thursday night into the wee hours of Friday morning.

It happened at Rend Lake Carbide, a business on Skylane Drive inside the Benton Industrial Park.

A Benton Police officer on routine patrol called in the fire shortly after 9 p.m., after noticing smoke coming from the building.

Benton fire fighters quickly called for mutual aid from surrounding departments. The fire burned through the roof as crews used multiple ladder trucks to try to keep the flames down. Shortly before 11 p.m., part of the building's roof collapsed.

Rend Lake Carbide President Ken Sentel was at the scene Thurday evening. He said the fire appeared to be burning high in the building -- in the structure's trusses and roof -- rather than on the ground level.

The building was empty at the time the fire started. Sentel said the business has five employees, and the workday ends at 3 p.m.

Rend Lake Carbide buys scrap drill bits, machining tools and other scrap from mining and drilling industries, and then reclaims and recycles the tungsten carbide -- a metal denser than steel that is often used in cutting tools -- inside. The company was founded in 2006.

• < Prev
• Next >