Sept. 9 -- RED OAK, NC -- The Nash County 911 Center received calls for a large commercial building fire on the 3300 block of Benvenue Road in the Dortches section of Red Oak on Sunday.
Fire Departments from Station 12 in Red Oak, Station 9 in Battleboro and Station 4 in West Mount along with Nash EMS units were dispatched. The Red Oak Fire Department arrived on location in five minutes.
Chief Bob Brown reported he had a large commercial building that was heavily involved and requested additional crews be dispatched from Station 14 in Nashville. A special call was also put in to the City of Rocky Mount Fire Department for their Ladder 20 and Engine Company 4.
The Red Oak fire company laid out three sections of five-inch hose for a water supply and stretched two 2 1/2-inch water lines to fight the fire. When the next due engine company from Battleboro arrived, they also went into service with two 2 1/12-inch lines.
The Rocky Mount engine and ladder then arrived along with West Mount Station 4 crews who laid out 1,000 feet of five-inch hose to supply water to Ladder 20.
The ladder truck had difficulty setting up due to the large electric line metal poles that were over 60 feet high and carrying dangerous high-tension wires down the road and was forced to move to another location across the street to set up.
Capt. Jason Floyd figured out a way to supply water safely to the blaze by setting the ladder 98 feet straight up, which sent water up to the roof of the building. Officers positioned themselves around the rear of the building and used radios to direct Capt. Floyd on the where to direct the water flow.
Firefighters using the 2 1/2-inch water lines on the blaze made a quick knock-down on most of the flames from ground level, causing heavy smoke conditions that effected visibility for Ladder 20 personnel in the bucket. They had to rely on radio contact with officers to direct them.
This scenario continued for over 30 minutes but Ladder 20 was able to knock down most of the roof fire and burning rooms, giving ground level crews time to set up three additional 1 3/4-inch water lines and enter the building to knock down internal flames.
The blaze was contained by 40 firefighters in a little over an hour, and crews remained on the scene for several hours performing overhaul and hitting hot spots. There were no injuries.
The building was a total loss and Nash County Fire Marshall John Frazier said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
