Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990                   TAG: 9006270317
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PLANTS IN BASSETT HIT BY VENTILATION FIRE

Around 2 p.m. fire raced through the ventilation system that cleans dust from the air in Bassett Furniture Industries plants Nos. 1 and 2 in Bassett.

"It was a fairly extensive fire," said Sammy Pilson, assistant chief of the Bassett Volunteer Fire Department.

Firefighters, including Bassett Furniture's own fire brigade, attacked fire in the system's cyclone fans and bag filter houses first to reduce the threat of an explosion, Pilson said.

Several tons of the fine wood dust was still burning Tuesday night in bins in which the dust is collected outside the plant, Pilson said. The company normally uses the dust to feed the plants' boilers and was attempting to get rid of the burning dust by feeding it through the boilers, he said.

The fire department left the plant around 6:15 p.m., Pilson said, while the company's fire brigade stayed on the scene to monitor the fire.

Pilson said he was sure the plants would be back in operation today.