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Story and photos by Bob Bartosz
Shortly after 2:30 a.m. April 24, 2016 Nash County (NC) fire departments from Whitakers, Station 10, Battleboro, Station 9, along with Halifax County Enfield Station 3 were dispatched to 766 U.S. Highway 301 in Whitakers for a building fire. While responding, Engine 10 noticed a large red glow in the sky and reported that they had a working fire. Upon arrival, units reported a large, one-and-a-half story brick building, 80 x 125, heavily involved, and instructed all firefighters not to get close to the building becuase of a possible collapse. They also added a tanker task force assignment from Heartsease (Edgecombe CountyStation 19, also Salem Station 18 from Nash County.
Enfield aerial ladder arrived on location and was setting up the ladder truck on U.S. 301 when there was a huge building collapse on the A side and C side of the fire building. This sent the 125-foot-long front and rear brick walls crashing down. Drop tanks were set up because there were no fire hydrants in the area. Tankers were forced to travel more than a mile and a half for water supply.
Engine 10 led off with a 2 1/2-inch water line plus a 5-inch supply line to Enfield’s ladder truck. Because of the complete collapse of the building, this was now a wet-down exterior attack. There were no exposures.
Firefighters spent more than five hours shuttling back and forth to control most of the fire.
The building was vacant at the time. It was was a former 10,000-square-foot nightclub by the name of The Triple Oaks and it closed many years ago and was rented out then closed and has been vacant for quite a while.
There were no injuries reported from the 50-plus firefighters from the three Counties fighting the fire
The fire is being investigated by the Edgecombe County Fire Marshals Office.
