Investigators with the Forsyth County Fire Department may be at the scene of a commercial fire for several days trying to determine what sparked the fire early Monday morning.
Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers said the two-story, 18,800-square foot building was reported on fire around 6:30 a.m. He said fire crews arrived to find the building at 2460 Industrial Park Boulevard in flames.
He said there was no functioning alarm system or sprinkler system at the site.
"Because of that, the fire was allowed to burn for some time before it was ever noticed," Shivers said, noting that a passerby saw the fire and called 911.
In addition, Shivers said there is a mystery about what was inside the building and what business was operating there.
"It was recently occupied by one particular business, but apparently they were in the process of vacating it and another business was in the process of moving into it, so we're still not exactly sure who owns it or which business was operating out of there," Shivers said. "We're not even sure what products were being stored in there."
Shivers said some 50 firefighters were on the scene during the height of the operation and one firefighter was injured.
"He is stable - nothing severe," Shivers said. "He was transported to Northside Hospital-Forsyth with a minor injury." Shivers declined to elaborate on the nature of the injury.
As late as 3 p.m. some units remained on the scene making sure hot spots were extinguished. Shivers also said there was no indication anyone was in the building at the time of the fire; still, investigators wanted to search through all of the rubble.
"There were collapses on the inside [and] we have searched what we could, but out of an abundance of caution, we want to get into the inside of the building when we can," Shivers said. He said there have been no reports of anyone missing.
At this point, investigators have not speculated on a cause for the fire, and Shivers said the department would have "an investigation presence there for several days."
