In Duplin County in March 1988, a refrigerated produce warehouse operated by Southern Produce Distributors was destroyed by fire. The building was located on Highway 403, just west of Faison. The building measured approximately 275 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 30 feet high—about 82,500 square feet.
A passing motorist discovered the fire at approximately 2:45 p.m. on Sunday, March 6, 1988. The result response brought 18 fire departments from Duplin, Wayne, and Sampson counties: Faison, Calypso, Warsaw, Kenansville, Beulaville, Sarecta, Oak Wolfe, Pleasant Grove, Rose Hill, Magnolia, Mount Olive, Rosewood, Smith Chapel, Indian Springs, Grantham, Dudley, Turkey, Halls, and Piney Grove.
The main body of fire was brought under control by Monday, but firefighters continued extinguishing smoldering hot spots nearly 18 hours after the fire was discovered.
Their efforts were complicated by large numbers of crates packed with sweet potatoes. The crates had to be removed before crews could reach the back corners of the warehouse. The building contained 95,000 bushels of the sweet potatoes.
Assisting the volunteer firefighters were state prison inmates. Later that month, and despite some opposite, they were sent again to help clean the site. Prison officials could only recall two other instances. In 1984, inmates helped with manpower to clean up after tornados struck eastern North Carolina. In 1985, they helped during forest fires in western North Carolina.
Faison Deputy Chief Glenn Jernigan expected extinguishment operations to continue through Monday night, reported newspapers.
On Tuesday, smoke still billowed from the building, and firefighters were still spraying water. Said company vice president Nelson Precythe, it was still “smoldering in there” but was “really just a hot bed of coals.”
Chief Jernigan said welding had been performed inside the warehouse approximately one hour before the fire was discovered and that the welding was a possible cause.
By Tuesday, several million gallons of water had been poured on the fire, reported newspapers quoting Duplin County Emergency Services Director Hiram Brinson.
The building was destroyed. No official damage estimate was initially available, but sources believed the loss could considerably exceed $1 million.
Despite the loss, Southern Produce resumed selling sweet potatoes from a separate office the following morning and used another grower’s facility to pack its orders.
By May 20, 1988, approximately one month after the fire, the company had constructed replacement packing and refrigerated facilities of approximately the same size. An adjoining building of equal size was added about a year later.
Southern Produce suffered another major warehouse fire at its Faison property in April 2009.
Sources
Goldsboro News-Argus, March 7, 1988, “Fire destroys produce company”
Goldsboro News-Argus, March 8, 1988, “Faison damage still not determined”
Associated Press via Jacksonville Daily News, March 22, 1988, “Martin OK’d using inmates to clean site of Duplin fire”