Fire at Gold City Tire is ruled suspicious
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 2, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Firefighters with the Goldsboro Fire Department roll up hoses and pack up their gear after fighting a vehicle fire that spread to the exterior of Gold City Tire after midnight this morning.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
From left, firefighters Jordan Piper and Matthew Haddock shut off the water from a fire hydrant at the corner of Daisy and Magnolia streets after the Goldsboro Fire Department battled a fire that started in a car at Gold City Tire that spread to the exterior of the building.
A fire at the Gold City Tire auto repair shop that consumed two vehicles parked outside and caused damage to the exterior of the building Monday night has been ruled suspicious, according to a Goldsboro police report.
Goldsboro Assistant Fire Chief Eric Lancaster said the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
Police, fire and EMS were called out to a structure fire at 311 E. Ash St. at 11:52 p.m. Lancaster arrived first on scene to find two vehicles burning, threatening the building.
"Engine 1 came in and made an aggressive attack, knocked down both vehicle fires," he said.
By that time, the fire had reached the exterior of the building. There were spots burning near the top of the Daisy Street side of the structure.
"Thankfully that building has a metal exterior, that saved a whole lot," Lancaster said.
The tire shop is part of a strip mall and is adjacent to Gold City Pawn Shop.
After putting out the fire and working to ventilate the interior -- bay doors were opened and firefighters knocked out the glass front door of the business to gain access -- crews worked to investigate the origin and cause of the fire.
Lancaster said the fire started in the passenger side of one of the vehicles parked outside the repair shop, a Saturn passenger car that had been there since Jan. 11. A Dodge Ram parked next to the Saturn had been there all summer, he said.
"Both vehicles are a total loss," Lancaster said. "The building sustained a minimal loss."
Locating the origin did nothing to help determine the cause, however, as the interior of the Saturn was burned down to the metal and the passenger seat had been cluttered with personal items, he said.
Usually, if a recently repaired automobile catches on fire, that is going to be right after it has been worked on, he said. That did not happen in this case.
"We felt we needed to turn that over to the (police department) for further investigation," Lancaster said. "And let them do a suspicious fire report on it and pass it on to investigations."
Based on the estimated values of the vehicles and the damage to the paint and fiberglass of the exterior wall of the building, Lancaster estimated the total cost of the damage at $17,000, including $3,000 for each vehicle and $11,000 for the building and contents.
The investigation is ongoing.