Jim Beam Fire: Kentucky Warehouse Housing 40,000 Barrels Of Jim Beam Spirits Burns Down

Firefighters are struggling to put out a fire at a Jim Beam warehouse in Kentucky that became engulfed in flames Tuesday night.

The warehouse in Versailles, Kentucky, reportedly caught fire at about 11:30 p.m. and by the time local firefighters arrived the fire had engulfed one entire warehouse and began to spread to a second. The situation was aggravated by the 40,000 barrels of spirits held in the first warehouse.

In total, 40 firefighters from five different counties had to respond to the blaze.

Versailles Police Lt. Michael Fortney suggested that the fire could have been caused by lightning that rolled through the area Tuesday night. The warehouses are roughly the same width and length of a football field and up to seven stories high, according to CNN.

“It's purposefully being allowed to burn for several more hours,” Woodford County Emergency Management chief Drew Chandler said on the fire. “The more it burns, the less distilled spirits are in the debris.”

Chandler also clarified that this was being done to help prevent runoff from the scene that could pollute local drinking water.

Beam Suntory, the parent company of Jim Beam, has yet to comment.