Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 13, 1993 TAG: 9302130165
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FIRE DAMAGES FURNITURE PLANT
A fire at a Stanley Interiors Corp. plant in Stanleytown had was burning out of control Friday evening.When the fire started about 10:30 a.m. Friday, more than 300 workers were in the plant. No one was injured, said Stanley President Albert Prillaman.
Prillaman said it would be today before he had any idea of the extent of the damage.
Fire walls were containing the blaze in the center of the building, but the fire still involved about two-thirds of the 300,000-square foot structure, Prillaman said.
Some 25 fire stations in Southwest Virginia were fighting the fire or backing up stations that were at the scene, said Stuart Scott.
Scott, who is with the Fairystone Volunteer Fire Department, said his company was staffing the Bassett station so that crew could battle the fire. Stanleytown and Bassett are adjacent communities in Henry County.
Roanoke County sent a ladder truck and a truck with air for firefighters' breathing tanks.
The fire began on the second floor of the three-story brick-and-wood building in an area where construction work to expand the plant was under way, Prillaman said.
The plant, which makes dining-room furniture, was the company's oldest. It was built in 1924 and is one of seven plants on the property.
The building also housed furniture waiting to be shipped and some of the company's offices. Some inventory and offices were destroyed.
Varnish and other finishing materials were in another building.
The cause of the fire had not been determined late Friday.
Prillaman said the company's business is "extremely good" and that it needs to move quickly to replace the production of the damaged plant.