May 19, 2013
For the second time in 24 hours in the east a fire started at a cotton warehouse Friday.
The latest was in Kinston just after 4:00 p.m.at the old plant near the intersection of Highway 11 and Cunningham Road.
About 12 hours earlier there was a fire about 4:00 a.m. at the Roanoke Tar Cotton Inc. Cotton warehouse in Martin County which resulted in minimal damage.
In Kinston Friday afternoon several volunteer fire departments were called in to assist city crews. Firefighters had to pull out smoldering bales of cotton. There were a couple of workers inside at the time, but there are no reports of injuries. The official cause has not been determined, but Fire Chief Don Crawford says they have a good idea of the potential cause. He says the fire likely started as a smoulder from a hot bale of cotton still warm after processing, Cotton had to be moved away from the smoldering bale.
"This company does residual cotton baling. So, apparently there's some heat in the cotton bale from what I've been told by the plant manager, and those bales come in. Sometimes they begin to smolder," said Crawford
Tax records show the 300,000 square foot building is owned by Harvey Enterprises, Inc. and was built in 1968.
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Kinston firefighters have under control a fire inside a closed textile plant.
The fire was noticed shortly after 4:00 p.m. at the old plant, located at the intersection of Highway 11 and Cunningham Road. Several volunteer fire departments were also called in to assist the city crews.
Firefighters had to pull out smoldering bales of cotton. So far there have been no reports of injuries.
The fire department says they do not know a cause, but there were a couple of workers inside at the time.
Tax records show the 300,000 square foot building is owned by Harvey Enterprises, Inc., and was built in 1968.
