SBI investigating cause of Pikeville Town Hall blaze
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on November 3, 2017 1:25 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/ETHAN SMITH
Pictured is the Pikeville Town Hall damaged by an early morning fire.
Full Size
News-Argus/ETHAN SMITH
Filing cabinet drawers were placed on the ground outside, where the tops of several file folders were charred.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is looking into what caused a fire at the Pikeville Town Hall today at about 5:30 a.m. and destroyed the building and its contents.
It is unclear how many records were lost in the blaze.
All offices inside the now defunct modular unit town hall will be moved to the community building next door, according to Pikeville Police Chief Craig Edwins.
"It was pretty much a total loss as far as their contents," said Pikeville-Pleasant Grove Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ken Jones.
Nahunta and Fremont fire departments also responded to the fire.
Jones said the fire began in the computer room inside the building, which is the next room over from where the police department was.
Edwins said officers will still be able to respond to calls, but are currently without portable radios -- they were burnt in the fire.
But Edwins added that Wayne County Emergency Services will loan the department portable radios, and those are expected to arrive later today.
Windows on the trailer were broken out and the smell of charred items lingered on the site at about noon today.
Filing cabinet drawers were placed on the ground outside, where the tops of several file folders were charred.
"The SBI is investigating because we are unsure if it is an arson," Edwins said. "We are having it investigated because nobody was here at the time, and we are not arson investigators. We've never had anything like this happen before."
The offices of the assistant town clerk, town clerk, town administrator, director of public works and two offices for the police department, as well as a kitchen, were inside the modular unit.