Fire destroys two buildings on North Elm St. in downtown Lumberton [The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.]

Oct. 10--LUMBERTON -- A fire Wednesday morning gutted a building and damaged several others in the heart of Lumberton's historic downtown business district.

The fire was reported around 7 a.m. on the 300 block of North Elm Street two doors down from Washington'sMens Store, according to Lumberton Fire Chief Paul Ivey.

"When our guys arrived fire was venting from the roof and the front of the building," Ivey said.

Ivey said power to the entire block had been cut and the businesses evacuated.

No injuries were reported.

The roof and top floor of the two-story building had collapsed into a pile of rumble that smoldered into the afternoon.

"We'll be here for hours just soaking it with water making sure fires beneath the rubble are extinguished," Ivey said.

Around 10:30 a.m. the fire department knocked down the building's exterior walls leaving a whole in the block.

Around 3 p.m. a hotspot flared from beneath the rubble, according to Ivey.

He said because of the amount of rubble, firefighters cannot get water to all the hotspots until they can removed some of the debris.

Ivey said it could be days before his crews hear from the insurance agency for permission to bulldoze the rubble.

The building, along with several others on the block, is owned by Dick Taylor, who was in Chapel Hill Wednesday. Taylor runs an insurance business just behind the building that caught fire.

Ivey said the building had been vacant at the time of the fire, but had recently been rented from Taylor.

Taylor could not be reached.

John Torres said that he had rented the building from Taylor on Friday and had the power turned on Monday.

"Basically we were just vacuuming and cleaning the building," Torres said.

Intentions were to open Thursday a Lumberton branch of a White Lake church, Torres said.

"We have some mixed emotions," Torres said. "You have anxiety for starting something brand new. Then when something like this happens, it break your heart."

Torres said the church had been looking for a Lumberton location since March and would continue to look for a new location.

While the building itself sustained most of the damage, two adjacent businesses also had some water damage.

The blaze blew out the windows of the store fronts directly across Elm Street, but according to several business owners all but one were vacant.

John Gorman, who operates J-V TV Repair that shared a wall with the now destroyed building, said he had slept at his shop Monday night and awoke around 6:45 a.m. to noises next door.

He saw smoke coming from an air-conditioning vent and went to the back door.

"It was like fire and brimstone," Gorman said. "The flames were so hot they they singed the hairs on my arms. ...I thought the whole block was gone at one point."

Gorman said he went back into the building, which he also leases from Taylor, to retrieve photos and items of sentimental value.

Gorman and his girlfriend had just opened their doors about two months ago.

"Luckily I didn't have much damage," Gorman said. "Me and (my girlfriend) work hard for this. They're going to get the power back on and we'll get the vacuums out and get back to work."

Felicia Evans Long had rented a small shop on the other side of what is now rubble for a candy shop.

"The goal was to bring a little sweetness to downtown," Long said.

The Lumberton native, who now lives in Maryland, was hoping to open Dec. 3, but said the fire has probably set her back until the spring.

Long had not been able to get into her building Wednesday morning because an awning that hung over her's and the neighboring store front collapsed during the blaze.

"No matter how much you prepare," she said, "you can never be prepared for this."

Long, who hadn't yet bought insurance for the property, said she hoped to be able to keep the location for he business.

"I'm definitely not discouraged," Long said. "I will have to find the resource to keep on moving."

Staff writer Ali Rockett can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3528.

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