Office building damaged, no injuries in Oleander fire [Star-News, Wilmington, N.C.]

Sept. 28--No injuries were reported Friday evening in a fire that damaged an office building at 6329 Oleander Drive, Battalion Chief Sammy Flowers of the Wilmington Fire Department said.

Flowers said the fire was under control by 6:52 p.m., but crews were expected to remain on the scene for quite a while Friday night.

The fire was reported at 4:57 p.m., he said. The building where the fire happened houses the offices of Velocity Tech Group, The Assurance Group and endodontist W. Christopher Ward, listed on New Hanover County property records as the owner.

"An off-duty Wilmington fire captain was driving home from work and saw smoke coming through the ridge vent of the roof," Flowers said.

W.T. Garner, a captain in the fire department's training division, said he saw smoke coming from the treeline behind Salt Works restaurant.

"At first I thought it was someone burning trash, but then I came around the bend," Garner said.

Garner immediately called 911 and went into the building to make sure all the occupants escaped unharmed. He said three people had been inside the building when the blaze started.

When Garner made his initial pass through the building, he added, flames were confined to the attic.

Andy Hopper, co-owner of Velocity Tech Group, was one of the people inside.

"The power started flickering, then the fire alarms went off and then our office filled up with smoke pretty quickly," Hopper said, adding that it was three or four minutes from the time the power flickered to when workers inside the building knew they had to leave.

The blaze seemed to start in the back of the building, Hopper said.

Flames were showing from the building when the first fire engine arrived, Flowers said. After initially making a defensive attack on the fire, intense flames and heat drove the firefighters back.

Another reason for the defensive strategy was that flames were above the firefighters' heads, Flowers said, and the battalion chief on the scene didn't want to risk collapse. After the firefighters left the building, they doused the flames from above with a ladder truck hovering over the three-story building.

Hopper, who grabbed his laptop before leaving the building, said, "Once I saw the firefighters run out, that's when I knew it was a big deal."

Oleander Drive was closed to traffic from the Bradley Creek Bridge to Greenville Loop Road while crews battled the blaze, in large part because one of the main fire hoses was crossing the heavily traveled street.

It could be Saturday before the fire's cause is officially determined, Flowers said.

Adam Wagner: 343-2096

On Twitter: @AdamWagner1990

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