By John Howell Sr.

The fire that destroyed Batesville’s Dollar General Store Thursday night was intentionally set, spokesmen for the Batesville Fire Department said Monday.

“We have interviewed some of the customers that were in the store; it’s still under investigation,” Fire Marshal Brett Childs said.

Investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) assisted in the fire investigation that included extensive review of the store’s interior surveillance video.

“Nine people, adults and children, are in the video,” Childs said. “We still have several more to interview before we can determine,” whether charges are to be filed.

Childs and BFD Deputy Fire Marshal Rip Copeland discounted as “bad information” the rumor that an eight-year-old playing with a cigarette lighter had ignited the blaze.

The fire started in an area where bath towels, brooms, mops, candles and artificial flowers were displayed, the fire marshals said. “We believe the area of origin was the artificial flowers,” Childs said.

The fire was reported at 7:03 p.m., Batesville Police Captain Jimmy McCloud said.

“There was a significant fuel load in that area,” Copeland said. Firefighters initially encountered problems with the thick smoke pouring from the rear door of the building.

“Right now, I’ve got more fire than I want,” Batesville Fire Chief Tim Taylor said about 7:50 p.m. as shifts of four firefighters pulled two-and-one-half-inch hose lines through a rear door on the building’s west side. Taylor said that other firefighters bringing a hose through the front door were also attempting to get water to the fire source.

“You could see the seat of the fire but couldn’t see how to get there,” Copeland said.

Batesville firefighters were joined by equipment and personnel from the Pope, Courtland, Sardis and Bynum Fire Departments in mutual assistance responses.

The fire was declared out at 8:31 p.m.

“Had the building had the fire sprinkler system they would not have suffered the loss they did,” Childs said. He put the loss estimate at $750,000. A sprinkler system installed at the time of construction would have cost from $60,000 to $80,000, Childs added.

“We are assessing the damage at the store and at this time no additional information is available, Dollar General media relations manager Emily Weiss said. “We are referring all inquiries to the local fire department for more information.”

“We do our best to keep our employees and will work with each employee to re-assign them to another Dollar General store,” Weiss added.