Seven Alarm Blaze at NC Shopping Center Kills One
Source The Charlotte Observer (TNS)
Editor's Note: Fire officials have confirmed one person died in this fire.
One burn victim was air-lifted to a hospital Friday morning in connection with a seven-alarm fire at a Watauga County shopping mall in the Valle Crucis community, according to the Observer’s news partner, WBTV.
The Observer’s news partner, WBTV, reported a family of four escaped the building, but one person was still unaccounted Friday morning.
According to Watauga County Communications, the fire broke out around 5:45 a.m. at Vale Landing strip mall, near Valle Crucis Elementary School on Broadstone Road. The assistant fire marshal said the business that caught fire included housing.
The community is about 100 miles northwest of Charlotte, north of Grandfather Mountain State Park.
County officials, posting on a Twitter site, said NC 194 south will be closed for an extended period due to fire. Broadstone Road is also being closed.
Officials say they responded to reports of multiple people trapped, and as of 6:07 a.m., there was one person unaccounted for, WBTV reports.
Watauga County Communications says they are “praying for the emergency personnel on scene and victims.”
Mark Price: 704-358-5245, @markprice_obs
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