Fire Damages Dalton Sample Company

Dalton, GA, September 12, 2007--Investigators were working Tuesday afternoon to find the cause of an early morning fire that damaged about a quarter of Poston of Dalton, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.

The newpaper reported that fire at the carpet sample company caused the roof to collapse in part of the building and shut down traffic during the morning commute.

An automatic alarm from the business prompted a call to 911 at 4:45 a.m., Dalton Fire Department Assistant Chief Bruce Satterfield said. Firefighters arrived at the scene four minutes later to find “heavy smoke” coming from a portion of the building.

Firefighters moved into the building to hold the flames to the southwest corner of the facility. The smoke was billowing out from burning carpet samples, glue and other plastics and accelerants in the building, Satterfield said. Eventually, the roof collapsed in that quarter of the building. Items in the rest of the building suffered smoke, water or heat damage.

A sprinkler system over that part of the building malfunctioned, battalion chief Max Starr said.

The fire was considered “under control” at about 7 a.m. and extinguished later that morning, Satterfield said. After allowing the building to “air out,” investigators started searching through the wreckage to determine the cause of the fire.

Satterfield said the first shift of the day at the business starts at 6 a.m. so no one was in the building when the fire started. A phone message left for Herbert Poston, the owner of the business, was not immediately returned.

Although the fire caused damage, the building and its contents are not a complete loss, Satterfield said.