Investigators still haven’t found the cause of the fire that destroyed King’s Beachwear on Friday, April 29, and may not be able to definitively make a determination due to the amount of damage to the building, Wrightsville Beach Fire Department Chief Glen Rogers said Friday night.
Crews were at the store’s 21 E. Salisbury St. location on Saturday morning hauling away debris after a backhoe knocked down what was left of the building next to Johnnie Mercer’s Pier.
Rogers said that the early investigation didn’t indicate that the three-alarm fire was suspicious, though the investigation wasn’t finished, he said Friday night. He said indications were that it was an electrical fire, but investigators may not be able to know for sure. With high winds fueling the fire and flammable materials inside the building, the fire may have caused too much damage to find its source.
“With the plastics inside, its open frame and the way the air moves through it, it was very conducive to fire,” Rogers said.
On the job for just two weeks, Rogers said he was impressed with the Wrightsville Beach Fire Department’s preparedness, as well as the quick response from the neighboring Wilmington and New Hanover County fire department.
The Wrightsville Beach Fire Department pre-plans for fires at many of the buildings in the town, Rogers said, and they had a plan in place for King’s, which helped the department attack the blaze. For instance, they knew going in that there were no liquid propane tanks on the premise, which could have caused explosions and created dangers for the firefighters.
“They were planning behind the scenes and they knew this building,” Rogers said.
There were no injuries to firefighters, who were rotated into action in between “rehab” sessions to cool off and recuperate, Rogers said. They were helped by the community, who brought out food and refreshments for the firefighters.
Rogers said King Neptune’s restaurant, Jimmy’s at Red Dogs and the Carolina Yacht Club all donated food and drink to the responders, with the firefighters “ladies auxiliary” also making contributions and helping organize the relief effort.
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