Fire destroys furniture restoration business
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on April 13, 2004 1:59 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- A Monday afternoon fire of undetermined origin destroyed an old chicken house that was being used as a furniture restoration business.
Red Hill Distributors was using the building on N.C. 55 to restore school desks. It was full of school furniture at the time the fire broke out, said Mount Olive Fire Chief Steve Martin.
Bobby Williams
Fire officials don't know yet what caused this Monday afternoon fire, which destroyed Doug Wiggins' furniture restoration business on N.C. 55 near Mount Olive.
The call came in about 2 p.m., but there was nothing the firefighters could do. "It burned up real fast," said Martin this morning. He said he appreciated the help provided by the Dudley and Indian Springs departments.
"It was full of paint and all kinds of paint thinner," he said. "We were out there two hours. It was so far gone, with all those chemicals."
There was no insurance on the building. The owner and operator, Doug Wiggins, estimated the building and contents were worth about $700,000.
Employees had been in the building earlier in the day, but nobody was inside when the fire started.
The fire was not of suspicious origin, Martin said. Power was going to the building, said Martin, but he doesn't know if that caused it.