The fire started about 10 a.m. in a rack storage area at the rear of the Colfax Furniture and Mattress store at 801 Silas Creek Parkway, said Battalion Chief Jeff Henley of the Winston-Salem Fire Department. No one was injured. The building’s sprinkler system helped contain the fire, Henley said. It took 31 firefighters about 30 minutes to put out the fire.
The store’s employees and its customers left the store safely after the fire began, Henley said. Investigators are trying to determine how the fire started, Henley said. He didn’t have an estimate of how much damage the fire caused.
The store’s warehouse manager first heard a muffled explosion or some type of loud noise shortly after the store opened at 10 a.m., said Jackson Braswell, the store’s manager. That employee then saw a rug burning, Braswell said. The sprinkler system was activated, and someone called 911.
“The most important thing is that everyone got out safe,” Braswell said. “The sprinklers did their job.” Braswell didn’t immediately know how soon the store will reopen. “We will be back up and running as soon as we can,” Braswell said.
Kemper Willcut II expected today to be a busy day filling last-minute Easter orders. Instead, it will be spent cleaning up from an overnight fire that will keep the Del’s Popcorn Shop, 142 N. Merchant St., closed for an undetermined amount of time.
The fire, which was contained to the rear of the building, was reported shortly after midnight. Decatur Fire Department personnel arrived to find a dumpster behind the business on fire and the flames climbing the wall toward the second floor.
Battalion Chief Todd McKenzie said it appears the fire breached the building where the electricity enters the structure. Sprinklers were able to prevent the spread of the fire to the front of the building, but the entry point provided a pathway to the second floor.
The fire was contained to the one building, with neighboring businesses suffering smoke damage. Sloan’s Calzones planned to be open for lunch today after doing some minor cleanup. TapRoot Restaurant will be open tonight, with some limitations.
John Redden, owner of TapRoot, said the bar section of the restaurant would be open tonight, with the regular menu available. As employees helped to clean up and rid the business of the lingering smell of smoke, Redden hoped to have the entire restaurant opened by Saturday.
“Everybody got lucky with this,” he said. For Marina Loehr, the already scheduled off-day became a clean-up day. Scheduled to be closed in observance of Good Friday. Loehr spent Friday morning lighting candles in her store and opening the doors to get the smell of smoke out of the business.
After a look-around the store, she was optimistic there was no damage to any of the structure or the collection of dresses hanging up throughout he store.
Many store owners echoed the sentiment of McKenzie as they assessed the damage. “It definitely could have been much worse,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie said 30 firefighters and eight trucks were on the scene and off-duty personnel were called in to cover the city in the event of another fire elsewhere. They cleared the scene at 4:32 a.m.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
