Fire destroys Boys and Girls Club outbuilding
By John Joyce
Published in News on December 21, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Firefighters David Wilkerson, from left, Hunter Bass and Jamie Howell push down the back wall of a storage building behind the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County Monday morning. The walls of the structure became unstable after a fire and knocking them down prevents the walls from falling on a person.
The Goldsboro Police Department has been called in to investigate a fire that consumed an outbuilding behind the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County early this morning.
The point of origin has been located, but the cause remains under investigation, the Goldsboro Fire Department said.
Within minutes of the fire trucks arriving on scene, the roof and a sidewall of the building collapsed.
No injuries were reported and no one was inside the building at the time of the collapse, Assistant Fire Chief James Farfour said.
"We got the call this morning at about 5:45 a.m. It was reported as a structure fire here at the boys and girls club," Farfour said.
Flames were coming though the roof when he pulled up, he said.
"(Firefighters) did a quick knockdown on it and right now we are in the initial investigation phase," Farfour explained.
Boys and Girls Club director Mary Ann Dudley said the building -- a two-bay storage shed -- housed lawn care equipment and a tractor.
She said it was a little after six when she got the call to notify her there had been a fire on the property.
"It was our barn, our storage building," she said. All she had been told is that someone driving by saw the flames and called the fire department. She described the feeling as "numb."
Firefighters continued to overhaul the building, knocking over another section of wall and clearing burn debris and rear from the building to make sure nothing smoldering again caught fire.
Farfour said small amounts of gasoline and fuel were kept in the storage building, similar to any garage where lawn care equipment would be housed. He did not elaborate on whether any flammables were used to start the fire.
"We've located the origin and there isn't any power source connected to that area. We've called the Goldsboro Police Department to come out and they're going to investigate it," he said.
A value of the damage had not been estimated at the time of this report.