POSTVILLE -- A federal jury has determined a Postville poultry company was responsible for the fire that destroyed its plant in 2003.

Regent Insurance Co., which insured Iowa Turkey Products, filed a lawsuit against two outside companies hired to clean ITP alleging they were behind the devastating blaze.

But jurors found no fault on the part of the cleaning crews from Parkers Sanitation Service and National Service Co.

It took the jury about an hour and a half of deliberations to find ITP to be 100 percent responsible for the fire.

"I think that the jury was very attentive. They took their job very seriously. They considered the evidence," said attorney Frank Nowicki, who represented Packers Sanitation.

The fire broke out while the plant was closed Dec. 20, 2003, in the further finishing room where turkey hot dogs and other foods were made.

Attorneys for Regent Insurance said crews should have shut off power the breaker on the west wall, and that was behind the fire.

"While everyone seemed to be in agreement as to where the fire started… the evidence was never able to clearly say what occurred in that room to start the fire," Nowicki said.

He said there was no evidence the requirement to turn off the breaker was ever relayed to the sanitation companies, and the written procedures called for the opposite.

Expert witnesses for the defense criticized how the plant did its own wiring and the fact there was no sprinkler system and no smoke alarm in the further finishing room.

The plant also lacked industrial hoses for fighting flames and didn't have a written fire protection plan.

"One of the maintenance supervisors who testified from Iowa Turkey, when asked about the fire protection plan, said was 'Well, we chose to just evacuate,'" Nowicki said.

ITP, which employed about 350 people, suffered about $8 million in damages. The plant was never rebuilt, and the remaining assets were sold to a Minnesota corporation under a deal the was in the works before the fire.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.