Shortly before 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 11, Franklin County 911 received calls for a working warehouse fire in the 900 block of Highway 98 East in Bunn.
Three fire stations from Bunn along with volunteer companies from Pilot Township and Justice were initially dispatched.
Bunn Engine 21 arrived within 5 minutes and reported a large 200-by-300-foot metal construction warehouse on fire with heavy fire conditions. The building was actually 60,000 square feet and used for storage of vehicles, boats and tractors.
The building, which was once a mobile home manufacturing facility, also housed a large number of agricultural hemp products stored in 4-foot-high bales stacked on top of each other that took up two-thirds of the building and were on fire.
Bunn's safety engineer was on Engine 21 and knew the nearest hydrant was three miles away. Bunn Assistant Fire Chief Larry Hill then arrived with Chief Matt Strawbridge, and they made a quick decision to send companies to draft water from the nearest pond a quarter of a mile away.
Chief Strawbridge and Assistant Chief Hill told Engine 221 and Justice Engine 212 to head to the pond laying 5-inch hose lines. Engine 221 got stuck in the mud, but Engine 212 was able to make it to the pond.
Various companies were now laying 5-inch hose and sending their other pumpers up along the way with the relay.
Pilot Engine 71 set up drop tanks to supply water to two arriving ladder companies, one from Louisburg Fire Department and one from Wake Forrest. The Spring Hope Fire Department from neighboring Nash County arrived and set up their drop tank to feed water to one of the ladder companies.
Within the next few hours, over 22-plus fire departments from Franklin, Nash and Wake counties were going into service fighting the enormous fire.
All of the companies hooking up for drafting were making good progress, and roughly 5,000 feet of 5-inch hose was laid to fight the blaze.
But many parts of the building began collapsing, making it very dangerous for firefighters to even try to attack and cut off the fire.
At one point, an excavator was used to help remove some of the tin metal so crews could hit the blaze with 2 1/2-inch hose lines. This became very dangerous to continue with much of the roof collapsed and large sheets of tin roofing landing on top of the burning hemp bales, making it nearly impossible for water to make contact with the burning hemp. This caused both aerial ladders to stop being used.
Both fire chiefs decided after about 4 hours that since there were no exposures to protect they would end the exterior attack, keep their personnel safe and let the fire burn itself out. The blaze wound up burning for two days.
The fire is now being investigated by the ATF and North Carolina Fire Marshall's Office.