By Staff
destroyed by fire
Tienda Las Rosas a complete loss
By CLAUD HODGES
Senior Reporter
Seven fire departments and 95 firefighters battled a Tuesday morning fire that left a Washington business in ruins.
Sara Rosas, the store’s owner, was inside the structure when it caught fire, but had escaped by the time firefighters arrived, according to George Sullivan, a member of the Bunyan Volunteer Fire Department. Rosas could not be reached Tuesday afternoon by telephone.
The cause of the fire had not been determined by Tuesday afternoon, according to Williams.
Watson said the sheriff’s office is being assisted by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The fire call came in at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, according to Williams.
Tienda Las Rosas was located on River Road where it intersects N.C. Highway 32, about five miles east of Washington.
Nine tankers, two engines and four support vehicles were brought to the scene to quell the flames.
In addition to Bunyan Volunteer Fire Department, other departments responded to the fire from Bath, Pinetown, Washington, Old Ford, Chocowinity and Blounts Creek.
No one was injured by the fire, which Sullivan said was fueled by a variety of objects for sale inside the store.
It appeared to responders that the space at the rear of the building had at one time been used by migrant workers as a place to sleep. Luckily, Williams said, no one was inside the building when the roof caved in.
Sullivan said the building was the same kind of structure that killed nine Charleston, S.C., firefighters last June when the roof of a furniture store caved in on them.