Aftermath: Amarillo firefighters continue to spray water Sunday at the gutted Merchandise Recyclers Liquidators warehouse at 100 S. Pierce.> Steven Dearinger/ sdearinger@amarillo.com

A handful of firefighters maintained a vigil Sunday outside the smoke-stained brick walls of the Merchandise Recycler Liquidators at 100 S. Pierce St., which burned Saturday.

The walls and a basement full of rubble remain of the two-story retail outlet, which was stocked with building materials. Damage was estimated at $500,000, according to an Amarillo Fire Department news release.

Investigators from the Amarillo Fire Marshal's Office are expected to be on site today to try to determine the cause, said AFD District Chief Mike Campbell.

Firefighters continued spraying water on the site all day Sunday to keep small fires from flaring up. The smoldering materials pose little danger to other buildings, Campbell said, but four-person crews planned to rotate duty at the building overnight and today.

"We really don't want to walk off and leave it," Campbell said. "We want to be as gentle to the neighborhood as we can, keeping the smoke down."

Firefighters were dispatched to the MRL fire at 9:20 a.m. Saturday.

Firefighters entering the ground-floor apartment where the fire apparently started found flames had spread to the upper floor and nearby walls, Campbell said. The fire burned fiercely for hours as firefighters trained five hoses on the blaze.

"There was just tons of combustible products in there," said Brandon Mason, a firefighter on watch duty Sunday afternoon.

The basement filled with water, which was flooding over ground-floor door seals Sunday. Mason said materials above basement level continued to burn. Large pieces of the roof cover the rubble and keep water from reaching fires below, Campbell said.

Part of the north wall fell Saturday morning, but the remaining walls - made of three layers of brick - appear stable, Campbell said.

He said the building, which could be 100 years old, contained no steel in its structure, only heavy timber and "true masonry" construction.

"They just don't build them like that any more," Campbell said. "It was just one of those buildings that you hate to see burn down because there are not very many of them left."

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