Historic Building in Kernersville, NC, Destroyed by Fire

COTT SEXTON

Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

(TNS)

KERNERSVILLE — The Kernersville Fire Rescue Department said Sunday that it doesn’t know what caused the fire that destroyed one of the city’s most historic buildings on Sunday.

It was originally reported that a driver hit a transformer and caused an explosion to the building at Bodenhamer Street, sparking a massive fire that gutted the 125-year-old building that houses Caudill’s Electric, a longtime Kernersville business started by the family of state Sen. Dana Caudill Jones.

“We are aware of various rumors circulating on social media, and we want to clarify that no injuries occurred to either emergency personnel or civilians during the fire at Caudill Electric,” Kernersville Fire Rescue said in a social media post on Sunday afternoon.

“The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Kernersville Fire Marshal’s Office. We ask for the public’s patience and understanding as we work through this complex investigation. Multiple events occurred in the area around the same time, and our priority is to conduct a thorough and accurate investigation to determine the facts,” the post continued.

No one was injured.

Caudill Jones said Sunday that the building is a total loss.

According to assistant fire marshal Chris Kauffman, firefighters were called to the scene of the fire at the office of the Caudill Electric Co. Some 60 firefighters from seven departments including the Winston-Salem, Beeson’s Crossroads, Oak Ridge and Walkertown fire departments responded.

Built in 1897 in an architecture style known as Second Empire, the building originally housed the Harmon and Reid Roller Mill, which ground corn and wheat into flour and meal during a period of expansion in Kernersville. It was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The Caudill family renovated the building in 2021.

Caudill Jones said a cleaning crew had been working in the business but left before the fire started.

“We’re sad that the building is gone,” she said. “You can replace a building, but you cannot replace people.”

Caudill’s Electric owns other neighboring properties, including a smaller building where the company will operate in the immediate future. She said the fire was so large it melted vinyl siding and cracked windows on the adjacent building.

Messages left Sunday with the N.C. State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the car crash, were not immediately returned.

Caudill Jones’ father, Danny, and her mother, Charlene, started Caudill’s Electric in 1973, working out of a barn. Caudill Jones and her husband, David, now help run the company.

The company said in a Facebook post Sunday morning that it had experienced a heartbreaking total loss.

“Watching it burn was incredibly difficult and left us feeling helpless — but even in the middle of the devastation, we are filled with gratitude,” it said.

Journal reporter Lisa O’Donnell contributed to this story.

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