Vicksburg firefighters keep watch over a blaze this morning that ignited on an old barge at the E.W. Haining Industrial Center, near the Vicksburg harbor. The barge, parked on land off Haining Road owned by Yazoo River Towing, was being cut up for scrap metal, said Kerry Southern, a manager with Yazoo. Sparks that flew during the cutting process likely caused a wooden structure on the barge to smolder through the night and ignite this morning, said Assistant Fire Chief Tim Love. The fire was reported about 6:50 as employees of Big River Shipbuilders & Salvage arrived for work. Firefighters will allow the nonthreatening fire to burn itself out, Love said, and that could take a day or two. Smoke from the fire could still be seen across much of the city at midmorning.