BONNE TERRE -- One of the main links connecting Bonne Terre's present and future to its rich mining past went up in flames Saturday.

The old St. Joe Lead Co. central office building, recently the home of Mercantile Mall and a handful of apartments, was gutted during a huge fire Saturday, which saw personnel from nearly 20 fire departments take part in the all-day battle.

The attractive stone structure, built in 1909, housed St. Joe operations for more than half a century. It had recently been remodeled by co-owners Joe and Mary Etta Layden and Damon and Helen Black, and was considered one of the centerpieces of the city's attractive historic district.

About 90 percent of the antiques and other merchandise on the first floor was saved through the diligent work of the firefighters. The entire second and third floors, though, were gutted, and serious doubt remains as to whether the historic structure can be restored. 

"The building itself...is possibly totaled because of its age, and the estimated cost to rebuild such a structure of that magnitude is probably not feasible," said David Pratte, Bonne Terre fire chief.

The fire left several people homeless and shut down four businesses. Four-year-old Dianne Lambrith emerged as a heroine, alerting three people in the upstairs apartments after the fire had started. The state fire marshal made a preliminary finding that faulty wiring in the attic had caused the fire. Later it was determined that there had been a fire in a bed in one apartment.

The fire was reported by a Post Office employee at about 9:30 a.m. Pratte wasted no time in calling for help.

Equipment was on the scene about ten and a half hours, leaving about 1 a.m.

"The strategy and the logistics and the type of fire was a tremendous challenge," Pratte said. "We really had to do some planning and use the fire department training and techniques that were available to us to be able to accomplish what we did.

"We probably used 150 men. It was quite an organized fire. A lot of things were happening real fast. The conditions of this fire were changing at every moment. We had to make changes to fight this fire. It was quite a challenge."

The Bonne Terre Fire Department and other units that responded, earned praise for their gallant fight to save the building.

"(I feel we were) very successful," Pratte said. "My men were superb. From my youngest auxiliary boy to my oldest firefighter that was there, I got superb work. They were diligent in their work, they didn't give up. Everybody I called, all the other departments in the county, worked for hours without rest. They wasn't going to give. They wasn't going to let it win. As long as I could supply them with equipment and the water supply and everything they needed, they stayed after it.

"We wasn't going to give up. We wasn't going to let it get downstairs and get them people's antiques and stuff if there was anyway possible. We accomplished that. We did have some water damage, but as for as their belongs and all that, I'm pretty sure they got 90 percent of their belongings out of there."

The apartment residents were not so lucky, losing all their belongings. Thanks to the young heroine, though, there were no injuries, other than some burned hair by her mother, Ruby Lambirth. Pratte indicated that no firefighters were injured, except for one man who slipped on the snow while crossing the street.

"We had no injuries to firefighters or assisting personnel there. We were very lucky," Pratte said. "We were very cautious about entering the building. There were a couple of times we had to clear the building so we could reevaluate the situation. That's pretty devastating to a firefighter, saying 'Come on out of the building; don't put it out.' It's pretty hard to tell a man to stop what he's doing. That was our priority to everything -- life safety."

The fire was almost put under control in the early going. The lack of equipment to reach a high projectory cost the department dearly when the attic went up.

"We almost got it and it got in that attic and we couldn't get to it," Pratte said. "We didn't have the aerial, able to get that high to get that fast to it. If we'd have had an aerial truck like Fredericktown does, we could have come in inside of 15 minutes and snuffed that fire and been able to control it."

Pratte indicated that water supply and water pressure was not a problem. Still, plenty of pumpers were in position to supply water, in case the need arose.

The fire dealt a blow to the city's efforts to boost tourism through restoration of its historic downtown area.

"It was a landmark of our community," Pratte said. "They worked so hard to get it presentable for people to go in and enjoy such a building. And for this to happen to us."

Published by the PRESS LEADER, Farmington, St. Francois Co. MO, Tues. Nov. 30, 1993, by Mark Evans, Staff Writer.