By Jane Prendergast
Enquirer staff writer

LOWER PRICE HILL - Investigators still were unsure Tuesday when they might get inside the burned-out Queen City Barrel Co. to investigate the possible cause of the spectacular blaze that destroyed the 400,000-square-foot building.

Firefighters from Cincinnati, with help from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, spent Tuesday interviewing neighbors, possible witnesses and firefighters who responded to the fire Thursday.

"This is the tedious part of a fire investigation,'' said Mike Campbell, ATF spokesman. "There are a lot of people to talk to.''

Cincinnati police helped them find a homeless man who reportedly lives nearby under the Eighth Street Viaduct, and might have seen something that would help in the investigation. Campbell insisted the man was not a suspect.

Firefighters still were spraying water on the fire Tuesday. The blaze started about 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Evans Street building and turned into an hours-long fire that Fire Chief Robert Wright called the biggest blaze in the city in years. Damage has been estimated at $5 million.

A cause has not been determined and can't be determined until investigators get inside the building.

Exactly when that would occur remained unknown Tuesday, Campbell said.

The three-story building is not structurally sound, he said, and therefore isn't safe for firefighters. How long demolition of the partially collapsed walls will take isn't known, he said.

The ATF might send some of its agents home, Campbell said, then ask them to come back when the site is safe.

"Fire investigations can take a long time anyway,'' he said. "We're not going to desert the city of Cincinnati.''

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Email jprendergast@enquirer.com