Fire destroys flea market

The Webb Road Flea Market was destroyed by fire on Friday morning. Emergancy personnel from Rowan and Cabarrus counties worked to control the fire and scene during rush hour along I-85. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Firefighters responded to a 3-alarm-fire at the Webb Road Flea Market on Friday morning. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Webb Road Flea Market fire seen from a cellphone tower near the site. Photo by Brandon Dudley.

The plume of smoke from the fire could be seen for miles. Photo by Brandon Dudley.

Fire burns buildings at the Webb Road Flea Market. Photo by Hugh Fisher.

The smoke could be seen for miles, especially along I-85. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

Firefighters pour water onto the burning buildings at Webb Road Flea Market. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

Firefighters responded to a 3-alarm-fire at the Webb Road Flea Market on Friday morning. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Firefighters responded to a 3-alarm-fire at the Webb Road Flea Market on Friday morning. Faith and Mount Mitchell Firefighters at a drop tank for water supply on the northbound off-ramp to Webb Road.Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Webb Road Flea Market fire. Photo by Hugh Fisher.

Fire at Webb Road Flea Market. Photo by Hugh Fisher.

See galleries of photos from the fire here:

Authorities say it will probably take a couple of days to determine what caused the three-alarm fire that destroyed the Webb Road Flea Market this morning.

Investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the SBI and the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office stayed at the flea market at 905 Webb Road just off Interstate 85 most of the day.

Numerous callers reported the fire to 911 around 7:30 this morning, including flea market caretaker Bobby Johnson, who saw smoke as he opened the facility so vendors could set up for the holiday weekend.

Johnson saw fire in part of a secondary building, he told dispatchers. Then he heard a small explosion and saw flames engulfed the building.

“Because of the type of construction, it just really took off,” said Frank Thomason, head of Rowan County Emergency Services.

He said the flea market includes a hodge podge of building types. Some have wood siding and tin roofs, some are open pole buildings and some have tin siding.

Firefighters arrived at 7:40 a.m. to find the market in flames.

“All you could do was contain it,” Thomason said.

All but two small buildings burned to the ground.

Eighteen fire departments responded to the nearly 15-acre complex, many with tankers of water as water supplies at the scene dwindled. At one point, they pumped 4,000 gallons a minute on the flames.

Personnel totaled between 90 and 100 including firefighters, rescue workers, medical responders, Red Cross workers and members of a state medical assistance team.

No injuries have been reported.

The Post reached Libby Stephens of Morganton, who owns the flea market with her husband Christopher, by cell phone just after 4 p.m. Stephens said they had been to Rowan County but didn’t want to talk further because she was driving in heavy traffic.

Officials on the scene later said the owners were on their way. They had not arrived by 1 p.m.

Brandon Dudley, a cell phone technician for BCI Communications, was in the area of the fire this morning and took some photos from the ground. He then climbed a nearby cell phone tower to take more photos.

“It was just one huge puff of smoke,”?he said. “When I drove around the trees to see it, the whole thing was in flames, in just minutes.”

While fire crews were seen staging in the gravel parking lot, it appeared most of the sprawling complex was alight.

David Lore, who has sold pets at the flea market for six years, told a Post reporter a smaller building where he did business had been spared destruction. About 1,500 animals inside had survived, he said, but some small birds died.

Motorists stopped on both the northbound and southbound ramps of I-85, looking on in shock, some snapping photos.

The crackle and roar of the fire could be heard over the sounds of passing traffic.

Firefighters from Salisbury’s main fire station downtown raced toward the interstate to join crews already on the scene.

A plume of black smoke from the blaze was visible from Concord and points all around Salisbury.

Iredell County fire departments are being called to man some Rowan departments.

A man with a barn full of hay near the fire asked for help from firefighters.

County records set the tax value of the buildings at the flea market at $908,678.

At 11:45 a.m., fire officials shut down the operation and directed firefighters to a trailer where they could cool down, replenish fluids and have their vital signs checked.

Do you have photos of the fire? Please submit them to our SalisburyPostables.com site. Just click the icon.

More details as they become available.