Kinston Cotton Processing Plant Fire

KINSTON – Scores of firefighters from all of Lenoir County’s fire departments are battling a blaze this morning at a Kinston cotton processing plant. Bulldozers and backhoes are ripping into the side of the sheet-metal building in an effort to get to the source of the fire.

Kinston Fibers, on Neuse Road about 500 feet north of U.S. 70 West behind New Testament Baptist Church, has been the scene of two previous fires this year, one in February and the other in May. On both occasions, loose cotton fibers in the plant’s handling system sparked the blazes.

Those fires damaged equipment, but neither was as serious as this fire appears to be.

Janet S. Carter Photo

The fire alarm sounded around 6:20 a.m. and Kinston Fire and Rescue were first on the scene to find heavy smoke erupting from the building. Subsequent alarms alerted all six fire departments in the county and brought 75 firefighters to the scene.

Plumes of dense, black smoke are rolling out the roof of the plant. Neuse Road is closed.

Three firefighters have been taken to Lenoir Memorial Hospital with minor injuires, according to Don Crawford, assistant chief of the Kinston Fire and Rescue Department.

Crawford said the cause of the fire is yet undetermined but its source is at the center of the building. He said extinguishing the fire could take as long as 24 hours. The biggest obstacle to quelling the blaze is the removal of cotton bales weighing 1,000 pounds each that are stacked floor to ceiling the building.

Backhoe operators began removing smoldering bales this morning.

“This is going to be a 24-hour ordeal,” Crawford said, adding that Lenoir County Fire Marshal Deral Raynor is on hand to begin his investigation into the cause.

(Source: Kinston.com)

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Addtional

KINSTON – A textile plant fire continues to burn this morning in Kinston. The blaze is at Kinston Fibers on Neuse Road, just off of U.S. 70.

Assistant Fire Chief Don Crawford says a 6:20 a.m. fire alarm alerted them to the blaze. He doesn’t know if anyone was in the plant at the time.

Crawford says 75 firefighters from Kinston and several volunteer departments are battling the blaze. He says they now have enough manpower at the scene to control the fire, even though it continues to burn inside the building.

Crews have brought in backhoes to help knock walls down so firefighters can get access to the fire. Crawford says 1,000 pound cotton bales are burning inside the building.

Three firefighters have been injured battling the blaze. Crawford says all were minor injuries and as a precaution they sent them to the hospital.

The assistant fire chief says once the fire is out it will be some 24 hours before they can go inside the building to investigate how the blaze began.

The same plant had a fire back in May which caused some $4,000 in damage, while another in February.

Kinston Fibers is a 109,950 square foot facility. The main building was constructed in 1965 and the warehouse added in 1999.

WITN has multiple crews on scene and will have live reports throughout the morning.

(Source: WITN.com)

PRIMARY AGENCY: Kinston Fire Department

ASSISTING AGENCIES: Pink Hill Fire, Deep Run Fire, Sandy Bottom Fire, Southwood Fire, Sand Hill Fire, Hugo Fire Rescue, North Lenoir Fire, La Grange Fire
INCIDENT TYPE: Multiple Alarm