Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fire that heavily damaged an industrial building in Rose Hill early Wednesday.
The fire broke out just before midnight at Viking Corporation at 731 South Industrial Court.
Butler County Fire District Number 3 chief Jim Woydziak said flames were coming from the east end of the building and there were other fires inside. He said it took a couple of hours to get the fire under control and there was extensive heat damage throughout the building.
A preliminary damage estimate is $1.75 million. No employees were in the building at the time and no firefighters were hurt. Crews from Andover, Augusta, Mulvane, Derby, Sedgwick County, Douglass and Benton were called to help, along with crews from McConnell Air Force Base.
Viking makes heavy equipment for blast and wash systems, and the company has around 50 employees.
