Local

Lightning causes massive 4-alarm fire in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A lightning strike caused the fire Thursday night at a huge warehouse in south Charlotte.

The blaze on Toomey Avenue started around 7:30 p.m. and firefighters were on scene well into Friday morning.

Thursday night, Firefighters had to deal with intense lightning and rain for hours while they battled to get the fire under control.

Nobody was hurt in the fire but it was so intense that several firefighters had to be treated for exhaustion.

Officials told Channel 9 that the building was a warehouse, containing a lot of old machinery owned by Carolina Food Stores.

The Battalion Chief said firefighters found cardboard stacked to the ceiling inside and that's what took firefighters so long to put out the flames.

"Having so much material inside the warehouse, we kept having to rotate our crews in and out," said Rusty Garrison.

Damge from the fire is estimated at $500,000.

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