Fire destroys North Carolina flea market

A large fire destroyed the main building of the year-round 40-year-old Webb Road Flea Market in Salisbury, N.C., today, according to a half dozen news reports, including those filed by WECT News6, WBTV3, WXII12, and WSOCTV.com.

Acording to these reports, the fire was reported by the market manager on the property around 7:30 am this morning. Eighteen fire crews responded to the fire, which burned too hot to approach on foot. Firefighters attacked the blaze from above with hoses on ladder trucks. They worked for five hours to put out the fire.

One of the market’s 1,000 vendors quoted by a news crew said, “They have people here for 20-something years who have had their business here. To come and see this … they lose everything. That is a big shock.”

Thankfully, no serious injuries were reported.

Photo courtesy WBTV3.

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Sept. 7 Update: Check out two good follow-up stories from WBTV and WCCB. A bit of positive news to come out of this: “Vendors say there are plans to set up a temporary flea market in the same area and it could be operational as early as next weekend,” according to the WBTV report.