Wichita Fire Marshal Ed Bricknell said investigators spent most of the day Thursday going through the rubble of the company headquarters at 424 N. St. Francis. He said they could determine a cause of the fire as early as today.
Company owner Herb Coin said his 35 Wichita employees were scrambling Thursday to set up shop in the company's old offices at 800 E. Central.
"We intend to continue operations," he said as some workers cleaned and vacuumed the old offices, while others used cell phones to communicate with customers. Coin said the company's satellite offices in Hutchinson, McPherson and Enid, Okla., would be called on to help the business rebuild.
Fire investigators carefully walked through the charred debris Thursday, taking pictures, drawing sketches and interviewing witnesses.
Heavy machinery that can knock down some of the walls, making the building safer, is expected to arrive today. Investigators will then be able to carefully study the area where the fire started, which was somewhere at the north side of the business, Bricknell said.
Investigating agencies include the Wichita and Sedgwick County fire departments, as well as the state fire marshal's office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
"With a fire of this magnitude, we try to think of all the resources that we possibly can," Bricknell said. "We have one investigator on duty every day. For one guy, this is a little much."
Many calls to 911 on Wednesday, starting at 8:32 p.m., alerted officials about the fire, Bricknell said. It quickly became dangerous for firefighters and took several hours to control.
A couple of firefighters were in a second-floor hallway of the building when conditions got too hot and smoky, he said. They started backing out when fire shot through the roof, which later collapsed.
Because of those flames, firefighters went on the "defensive" after 8:47 p.m. --fighting the fire only from the outside.
"If the roof may collapse, everybody needs to be outside," Bricknell said. "A building is not worth the life of somebody who works there or of the firefighters."
One firefighter was treated at the scene for what appeared to be heat-related problems, Bricknell said.
No Murdock Cos. employees were inside the building, as far as officials knew Thursday.
Because they were working from the outside, firefighters had to spray millions of gallons of water onto the inferno through doors, windows and a hole that burned through the roof.
The fire's ferocity required officials to call for additional crews and equipment multiple times -- adding another "alarm" to the emergency. The final request for reinforcement came out at 10:26 p.m., making the blaze a six-alarm fire -- a rare occurrence, Bricknell said.
"You'll probably never see another one," he said. The fire required more than 70 firefighters and 30 pieces of equipment, including fire engines.
The businesses contained containers of hydraulic fluid, heavy oil and a cooling agent. Although plumes of thick, black smoke were visible for miles, Bricknell said the smoke did not pose a hazard to anyone who was more than a block from the fire.
"I think that the smoke drifted high enough that it would not be a concern," he said. Local health and hazardous material experts were on scene to advise firefighters.
Coin, who has owned Murdock Cos. for 17 years, said the business comprises four companies, the largest of which is Murdock Electric and Supply. He said the business was located on Murdock Avenue when it was started in 1921.
He said one of his first priorities was to install telephones and computers in the new location.
"We're operating on cell phones and manual records," he said. "We can't go on that way for long."
Coin said the buildings, which had 30,000 square feet of floor space, had flat tar roofs that allowed the fire to spread quickly.
When the business closed for the evening Wednesday, he said, there was no indication that a fire was smoldering somewhere.
"When we left at 5:30, we couldn't see anything wrong," he said.
Coin said his employees and insurance agents were doing the best they could to get the business running again.
"We had insurance, but I don't know if you ever have enough when you really need it," he said. "Even competitors have come in to say they'd do anything they can to help us out."
Among those in the area when the fire broke out was Lee Lookingbill, who was teaching a massage therapy class in her business, Total Health Works, at 435 N. Mosley.
"Somebody knocked on the door and told us we needed to get out -- that the building next door was on fire," she said. "As soon as we got outside, the building basically just went up in flames. There was nothing but flames everywhere."
Lookingbill said she heard several small explosions, which company workers said could have come from a propane tank on a fork lift or gas tanks in trucks parked in the buildings.
"After the fire started, there were explosions, but it wasn't an explosion that started it," Lookingbill said.
Although her business smelled like smoke, she said it sustained no damage. She said the north winds probably saved the building.
"I'd be crying in my beer right now if the wind was coming out of the south," she said.
Bricknell agreed that the weak wind, which blew smoke southward, did help neighboring businesses. Firefighters also sprayed water on the south side of the building to prevent wind-borne embers from escaping.
Robin Spurrier, part-owner of Lookingbill's building, said the wind was calm when the fire started, but began blowing out of the north as the fire continued to burn.
"How often does that happen in July and August in Kansas?" he said.
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