ELIZABETHTOWN — A Sunday afternoon fire gutted the inside of C.A. Nails and left smoke damage to buildings next door.
Lumberton firefighters were on the scene and helped prevent what could have been a disaster.
“They called for our ladder truck to assist because of where it was situated and the height of the building,” Lumberton Fire Department Chief Paul Ivey said Monday.
The ladder truck and its four crew members were dispatched at 2:35 p.m. and were at the fire about 22 minutes later, said Ivey, who also was at the fire.
“It took us about 22 minutes to get there,” Ivey said
The Lumberton firefighters assisted by cutting holes in the building’s roof in order to allow heat and smoke to escape, he said. The scene was cleared by about 4:39 p.m.
No injuries were caused by the fire, Elizabethtown Fire Department Chief Nick West said. He and Anthony Norris, deputy chief, said the cause of the fire is under investigation. It started in the upstairs area of the building.
“We had 20 apparatuses at this call,” Norris said.
West and Town Manager Eddie Madden acknowledged downtown averted a major disaster by the quick work of firefighters. West Broad Street to MLK Drive was blocked off, the ladder trucks of Lumberton Fire Department and East Howellsville Fire Department working the fire on one side, and the Elizabethtown Fire Department ladder truck was in a back parking lot.
Smoke billowed and could be seen for miles toward White Lake, one witness said. As red lights flashed and onlookers gathered to watch across the street behind caution tape, the fire was brought under control in about two and a half hours. Firefighters continued working hot spots the next hour.
“It’s these guys,” West said of the firefighters, both from his department and more than a dozen others. “They did it.”
Pivotal to their success, West said, was Capt. Chad Sholar. He was first to the scene and immediately requested alarms that brought the ladder trucks from Lumberton and East Howellsville. They were on the scene less than an hour after the call came in from a passerby.
“He was decisive in making that assessment,” West said. “We pulled the larger hoses and were just pumping water on it. It was upstairs and in the back of the building, and that was hard to get to.”
The upstairs, firefighters said, appeared to be a loft-type area with storage. Downstairs is the nail salon area. The fire fell through the roof separating the floors.
The temperature recorded at Curtis L. Brown Jr. Field was 85 degrees when the fire call came in and rose to 87 in the next hour. Plenty of cold liquids in large coolers were transported in for the firefighters as they rotated shifts working the blaze. In addition to the ladder trucks, they worked from adjacent rooftops.
West said a dollar estimate on damage wasn’t immediatley known. The building is estimated at three-quarters to a total loss.
Nathan Dowless, director of Emergency Management, was among the first inside of the business next door, the Bladen Journal’s home at 116 W. Broad St.
“We got in, and smoke was all the way to the floor,” he said. “I had a pack on, and I was on the floor so I could see where to go. We removed the ceiling tiles to see what we had. If the fire had gotten into the ceiling, it could have spread and taken out the whole block.”
West agreed. He explained neither side of C.A. Nails has a true firewall; one side does have a brick veneer.
He also said a downtown fire, with so many older buildings side-by-side, is a fire chief’s worst nightmare. This was bad, but could have been worse.
Firefighters got the dispatch a little after 2 p.m. Engines reported from throughout the county, and from Columbus and Robeson counties.
“We arrived four minutes after being dispatched,” Norris said.
Autumn Brisson and Katelyn Willoughby, high school students working down the block at Amy’s, said they heard the sirens and realized they had stopped.
At first the girls didn’t think much of it, they said. They had been working on taking down all of the winter items and marking them down.
“So then we came out of the store, and we were being a little bit nosey,” Brisson said. “We saw all this smoke.”
The girls said they didn’t know if they needed to leave. Meanwhile they were waiting for food to be delivered and they decided to wait it out, after checking on the situation.
“We came back out and all of this was full,” said Willoughby, waving toward the street. “I said maybe we need to go.”
In addition to Elizabethtown, reporting fire departments included Carvers Creek, White Lake, Hickory Grove, White Oak, Ammon, Lisbon, Clarkton, Bladenboro, Tar Heel, Dublin, St. Pauls, East Howellsville, Lumberton and Whiteville.
Law enforcement and emergency medical services were also on scene.
