Fire destroys warehouse

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
SPRUCE PINE – A weekend fire destroyed a national warehouse Sunday morning.
The Franklin County warehouse for Scosche Industries was destroyed when a fire ripped through the building about 11 a.m.
Scott Montgomery, who operated the East Coast distributor plant for the company, said the building and its contents were a total loss.
It is estimated that the loss totals more than $1 million.
Montgomery said the fire likely started from an electrical problem, though the exact cause has not been determined.
"The fire marshal said it would be classified as undeterminable," Montgomery said. "Most likely it started with an electrical issue and they pinned it down to an area of the building that's about the size of a truck."
No one was at the building, which employs seven people, when the fire started.
"If someone was here we probably would have caught it before it got out of control," Montgomery said.
The company manufactures audio equipment for most all major retailers.
Montgomery said the company began operating out of Franklin County eight years ago because of its unique location.
"You can ship UPS ground to 31 states in 48 hours from here," he said. "There is no other place in the country where you can do that."
The 14,000 square feet facility could store up to 300,000 cubic feet of equipment, Montgomery said.
Company officials are looking at their options at the time, but Montgomery is hopeful that they will be able to remain in the county
"We still don't know anything right now but we are hopeful to re-build here," he said.
"Fortunately no one was hurt. There are a number of personal things we can't replace but we will pick up and move on."