The Henderson Fire Department says Wednesday’s Budge Industries warehouse fire is the biggest the city has seen in decades.
“It’s easy to say that this is the biggest fire in 20 years,” said Deputy Chief Chad Moore, an 18-year veteran with the department, who added it’s the largest he’s fought in his time with HFD.
He estimated that the fire reached a size of 50,000 square feet at the warehouse located at 1156 First Street.
Other comparable fires include the Atlas Tack fire on June 16, 1978, and the Period Furniture fire on Dec. 30, 1998. (See the descriptions of those and other large fires below.)
A more recent large fire in the city was at Weaverton Apartments on Oct. 26, 2019. That early morning blaze caused HFD to use an entire shift of firefighters at the scene—more than 15—while getting assistance from volunteer fire departments to man the empty fire stations, according to a Gleaner article then. Robards Volunteer Fire Department assisted at that scene.
But at the Budge warehouse scene, Moore estimated about 50 firefighters worked the fire. In addition to HFD, crews from Baskett, Zion, Robards and Corydon fire departments, as well as Ohio Township Fire Department from Warrick County, Ind., assisted with the fire, according to officials at the scene. Other reports say more departments arrived, including from Union County.
All told, there were four aerial waterways (elevated water towers) used to extinguish the fire, which are the most that’s been used on a fire that Moore has seen while at HFD, he said.
Moore said HFD units got the call at 12:34 p.m. and arrived to the fire three minutes later.
“When we arrived the roof was already collapsing,” he said. “When we pull up…and the roof is collapsing, we’re behind the game.”
He said there’s no determination as to how long the fire had been going when units arrived, but it had to have been going for some time for the roof to be collapsing as units showed up. He said fire science courses teach that a blaze doubles every couple minutes if not contained.
Initially, two crews pushed inside—one in the office area to search for people and another on the warehouse side to attempt to get some water on the fire, Moore said. At both locations, the roof collapsed, and crews were ordered back out because of safety concerns, he said.
From then on, firefighters worked from outside positions. For hours, giant plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing up from the scene and hovering in the sky near the Second Street overpass.
No doubt the dark smoke that filled the sky came from the burning of the protective coverings for cars, boats and patio furniture that Budge manufactures and distributes.
Fire officials determined that the smoke was not toxic for nearby residents and did not evacuate them.
By 9:30 p.m., operations were terminated, though fire officials knew they’d need to return periodically to put out flareups, which they did.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office was on scene Thursday, Moore said. He added that the cause has not yet been determined, and it will probably be a few days before it is.
Moore said there were no injuries that were suffered from the fire.
The Henderson County Property Valuation Administrator’s website shows the building is owned by First Street Partners LLC which bought it from Western Kentucky Trucking in July 2023 for $1.3 million.
About Budge
Budge Industries LLC has operated a plant at 840 Fourth St., near the former depot, since about 1999. More recently it opened a second operation on Kentucky 2084 (formerly U.S. 41-South) beside Royster’s Machine Shop.
The company employs about 50 to 60 people in Henderson, according to Missy Vanderpool, executive director of Henderson Economic Development. The company in 2014 announced that it would expand and double its workforce here.
“HED is always here to support our existing industries and we will be here to support Budge however it is needed during this time,” Vanderpool said of the warehouse fire.
The Budge website indicates that it has 75,000 square feet of production and warehousing space in Henderson, which it said also serves as its fulfillment center for shipping products to more than 25,000 stores in North America. Its retail customers include Walmart, Amazon, several major auto parts stores and home improvement centers.
Its website said it also provides custom covers and protective wraps for automakers such as General Motors, Ford Motor Co., BMW and AutoEuropa for protecting fragile parts in transit and vehicles during shipment.
It said it even provides canopy covers for Lockheed Martin F-22 stealth fighter aircraft and custom covers to protect reactive armor tiles on military Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
During the Covid-19, Budge began manufacturing protective face masks that it provided at no charge to Tri-state hospitals, according to a 2020 article in The Gleaner.
The company, founded in 1940, is based in suburban Philadelphia.
Chuck Stinnett contributed to this report.
Past major fires in Henderson
Compiled by Chuck Stinnett
Tobacco warehouses, Sept. 12, 1956: An early morning fire destroyed the Argue Tobacco Co. stemmery at Water and First streets (where the post office now stands) and the Soaper Loose Leaf Tobacco warehouse across Water Street (now occupied by the Doc Hosbach tennis courts). In all, it destroyed two buildings, gutted a third and damaged six others. Six firefighters were injured, including three who were hospitalized, by an explosion of a propane tank in the basement of the Argue building, which was being razed. Three pumpers and about 20 firefighters came from Evansville to assist, and fire trucks from Owensboro were on standby. The loss was put at $250,000.
First Presbyterian Church, Sept. 4, 1972: An overnight four-alarm fire believed to have started in the basement consumed the handsome church that was completed in 1894. Aerial trucks from Henderson and Evansville worked to douse the inferno from overhead, but the building was destroyed. The loss was estimated at $1 million, including stained-glass windows that had been appraised at $250,000. The current Presbyterian Church of Henderson was built on that same site and features the bell that was recovered from the original church building on its front porch.
Atlas Tack, June 16, 1978: That conflagration, blamed on sparks from trash being burned nearby, consumed not only the 190,000-square-foot former tack factory at the corner of Atkinson and O’Byrne streets, but also a nearby frame building and warehouse. Various parts of the Atlas building were being used for storing flammable materials such as plastic toys, glue, some 200 barrels of oil and furniture that fueled the inferno, fed by brisk winds. Five acres of tires nearby caught fire, sending aloft clouds of thick, smelly smoke. A ladder and engine company from the Evansville Fire Department came to assist and was credited with preventing the nearby Zephyr gas station from exploding, which could have led to further disaster. Volunteer fire departments from around the county helped fight the fire. The loss was estimated at $1 million. The plant was built in 1903 by Coquilllard Wagon Works and later served as the home to Henderson Wagon Works and a H.J. Heinz ketchup plant. Atlas Tack had operated here from 1940 to 1970.
Period Furniture, Dec. 30, 1998: Fire erupted in the Period Inc. furniture factory at 1700 O’Byrne St. when a natural gas line burst in a large oven used to dry freshly sealed and lacquered furniture. Flames at times rose 40 feet into the air and a huge column of black smoke towered over the East End. The Henderson Fire Department sent all 45 of its firefighters and every piece of equipment it owned, and volunteer firefighters helped at the scene and manned city fire stations in case another fire broke out elsewhere. The loss was estimated at $2 million. Period tried to resume production at other locations in Henderson, but five months after the fire, the company was sold and later relocated to Madisonville. It had operated in Henderson since the late 1940s.
