Thursday, July 03, 2025

Two people detained for questioning about O'Sullivan Industries building fire

(From the City of Lamar)

At 11:22 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, the Lamar Fire Department received a call from a resident near 1900 Gulf Properties.

The property is best known locally as the old O'Sullivan Building. On arrival, the fire department found a working structure fire and requested mutual aid from area department. Fire crews responded from Liberal, Golden City, Jasper, Pittsburg and Carthage.

As of 7 a.m. July 3, the fire is still actively burning, but according to Fire Chief Rick Heinen, mostly contained.








It is estimated that roughly 500,000 square feet of the property and contents has been destroyed. The building is mostly being used as warehouse space for multiple companies.

The fire is being investigated by the Lamar Police Department in conjunction with the Missouri State Fire Marshal's Office. They have two people of interest detained for questioning.

More information related to the fire will be released as it becomes available.

The original part of the building was constructed in the early 1950s and occupied by Rotary Power Motor. It was late occupied by Lawn-Boy and then O'Sullivan's in 1964, which was a large manufacturer of pressed household furniture. O'Sullivan left in 2007 and the site was purchased by 1900 Gulf Properties and has been primarily used for storage since that time.

The site which covers about 1.5 million square feet, has been a community staple for many years.







(From the Lamar Fire Department)

Good afternoon, as most of you know we were dispatched to a structure fire at 1900 Gulf late last night. We will continue to monitor but the fire has been contained. There may still be smoke in the area due to some parts of the building that we couldn’t access due to ceiling collapse. No injuries were reported on the scene. 

We thank all the folks praying for our safety and we really appreciate them. The fire is currently being investigated by authorities. 

(Photos from Lamar Fire Department Facebook page)

1 comment:

Aimee said...

Randy, any updates on the investigation of the burning of the old O'Sullivan's Industries building?