Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302140028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STANLEYTOWN LENGTH: Medium
A DAY LATER, FURNITURE PLANT STILL SMOLDERS
The highway alongside Stanley Interiors Corp. looked like a disaster movie set. Firefighters, heavy coats hanging open, face shields raised, slumped in clusters near a Red Cross canteen like extras waiting for the next scene.Only this was not pretend.
Smoke still swirled from the charred center of the furniture company's oldest plant more than 24 hours after fire struck it Friday.
Many of the firefighters had been on the scene the entire time.
The fire was under control by midday Saturday. But late in the afternoon, hoses on three ladder trucks, including one from Roanoke County, still poured water onto the smoldering debris.
Some 300 firefighters from more than 20 localities teamed up to keep the fire away from the other six Stanley plants. Guilford, Rockingham and Stokes counties in North Carolina were among those that sent help.
Guilford Chief Gilbert Black said his department had 88 people at the fire.
Most of the firefighters were volunteers, some raw recruits like Gary Bowman, two and a half weeks with the Bassett Volunteer Fire Department.
After this, Bowman said, he didn't think he would need as much training as he had been scheduled to get.
The person who directed the firefight successfully was Bassett Volunteer Fire Chief Sam Pilson, a salvage yard operator and a 15-year Some 300 firefighters from more than 20 localities teamed up to keep the fire away from the other six Stanley plants. volunteer.
The fire was contained in a portion of the 300,000-square-foot plant. No one was seriously injured; the 350 employees working when the fire began were evacuated safely.
"He's my Gen. Schwarzkopf," Stanley president Albert Prillaman said of the chief. "If it hadn't been for these people, we would have lost a lot more."
Damage still will mount "well into the seven figures," said Prillaman. Construction work was being done in the area of the plant that burned, but the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
He said the fire destroyed the factory's personnel and accounting offices and its clinic and a "significant" inventory of chairs and occasional tables waiting to be shipped.
But the company has copies of a lot of the burned records, and the facility and its contents were insured, he said.
"And, we'll rebuild . . . a better plant. When we rebuild, we'll be using steel," he said.
Prillaman said the company needs to quickly relocate the production of the burned plant, however, because one of its better-selling dining groups was being made there. He said second shifts at other plants might be a solution.
He also said there likely will be some workers furloughed temporarily. Company officials are meeting again today to work on a plan.
Prillaman said this was the first major fire in his 23 years with Stanley, and he regretted it most of all because he knew how hard employees worked to prevent fire.
Mostly though, Prillaman talked about the skills and dedication of the firefighters and the way the community rallied to help.
"A competitor's fire brigade even came today to relieve our brigade," he said.
Bassett Furniture Industries is just down the road and some of the staff from there helped Stanley on Saturday.
Julie Defee, disaster chairman for the Martinsville/Henry county Red Cross, said businesses and individuals flocked to the fire scene with food and other help. Hardee's Emergency Support Unit set up its own tent to provide food and drink and other businesses like Domino's Pizza, Taco Bell, Biscuitville, Kroger and Winn-Dixie and a local restaurant, Brandee's, supplied the Red Cross facility.
"Even the Sears store opened at 2:30 a.m. so we could buy gloves, socks and batteries," said Bob Stone, a volunteer from Martinsville.
Firefighters hope to have the fire completely snuffed by today.