A waste building at Kannapolis' Pillowtex mill caught fire early Wednesday, destroying the structure, part of Plant 1. About 75 firefighters from 10 departments fought the blaze, which took about an hour and a half to control.
The flames didn't spread to the rest of the gigantic textile plant that dominates downtown Kannapolis.
The mill has been closed since 2003. Firefighters said no one was inside and no one was injured fighting the blaze. Firefighters from Cabarrus and Kannapolis answered the call.
The building is in a complex now owned by California billionaire David Murdock, who plans to redevelop the site and adjacent land he owns in downtown Kannapolis.
Although details have not been released yet, one city official this week estimated redevelopment cost at about $500 million. An official with Murdock development company Castle & Cooke said the fire would not delay those redevelopment plans.
Murdock intends to demolish much of the Plant 1 property, including its iconic smokestacks, which are part of the 264-acre site. The complex covers 5.8 million square feet - about the size of the Pentagon. Kannapolis Fire Chief Larry Phillips said security guards at the plant called in the fire about 5:15 a.m.
Firefighters driving there saw a "glow in the sky" before they arrived. Crews surrounded the building and doused it with water from a distance.
The waste building is a three-story structure that was used to store residue from the textile-making process, but like the rest of the mill, it's now empty. Pillowtex, once Fieldcrest Cannon and also Cannon Mills, made sheets, towels and other bedding. Its shutdown threw 7,650 people nationwide out of work, including 4,800 in North Carolina - the worst mass layoff in the history of the state and the textile industry.
Phillips said firefighters didn't take any risks while fighting the fire because the plant is being demolished anyway.
Workers were in the waste building yesterday doing some demolition work, which might have sparked the fire, Phillips said.
He said firefighters have responded to dozens of blazes at the mill over the years, but this one did the worst damage because the internal sprinkler system was shut off.
"We've had some doozies in here, but nothing where we lost the building," Phillips said.
The waste building collapsed in on itself as it burned. Earthmovers already were starting to clean out the debris this morning, even as firetrucks continued to hose down the structure to prevent hot spots from reigniting.
Distributed by the Associated Press
