GRAHAM, N.C. — Firefighters from multiple agencies helped put out a fire yesterday at an old textile mill in Graham.
According to officials, this building has been abandoned for years but was up for sale. This left many wondering how the fire started.
WFMY News 2’s Amber Lake spoke to city leaders about whether or not the city has any plans in place to prevent situations like this in the future.
So, the short answer is no, but it's not because they don’t think it's an issue. It's because the city has a few vacant buildings that aren’t necessarily abandoned, so it's hard to differentiate between the two.
City officials said they've spoken about the liability of taking on the property and working with the property owner in regard to compliance.
“[We've] investigated possibilities with condemnation and reviewed issues with our attorneys," Graham Mayor, Jennifer Talley said.
However, Graham Fire Chief, Tommy Cole, said when it comes to buildings like this, it might be better to just tear them down.
"Just chaos coming through here that’s really all it was," Chief Cole said.
From the ashes where there were once flames, Chief Cole details the moments during the fire that took place in this abandoned building.
"I was like 'oh'. Then, I looked back and you could just see the flames, the smoke, and everything. You could smell something burning," Chief Cole said.
What used to be Culp Weaving, has been sitting vacant for years.
"It’s an empty building, so I wasn’t really sure what was burning in there because I’ve seen people and forklifts moving steel and stuff but nobody should be in there," Chief Cole said.
The Graham Fire Department responded to the 3-alarm building fire around 9:18 p.m Tuesday night.
"Immediately, we decided because of what we know about the building and the despair it’s been in for so long it’s a defensive-only fire [for us] Which means we were not going to anybody inside the structure," Chief Cole explained.
This was for the safety of all involved.
“It's been used for multiple purposes along the way which concerns us because sometimes that can change day to day and putting firefighters in a building where we don’t know what’s inside, is always a concern for us," Chief Cole said.
Graham Fire Chief Cole said the use of the building dictates how often it needs to be inspected, but said he's had recent conversations with the fire inspector about getting into the building because it has been in such bad shape.
"Abandon buildings are always a big concern for us. Any building that sits vacant for an extended period of time will deteriorate faster than regular buildings that are occupied and thriving as businesses," Chief Cole explained
Abandoned buildings can pose a hazard not just fires.
"We are always concerned that it may lend itself to illegal activity homeless homeless folks looking for shelter. Personally, I’ve seen juveniles in and out of that building and property where the chain-link fence has been cut, so we know that we’ve had issues along the way. I think the city has done everything that they can to try to prod the building owner to make the building [safer] and available to us for inspection," Chief Cole said.
Chief Cole said if a business or company doesn’t come in and buy the property, and bring it up to code, he believes it should be condemned to prevent future events like this.
Now, the city said even vacant buildings have rules they have to follow such as keeping the grounds clean, grass trimmed, and making sure doors and windows are secured.
Firefighters said the fire is contained and reported no injuries or deaths as of Wednesday morning.