Fire Rips Through Vacant Factory In Mount Holly

By Jan Carabeo

MOUNT HOLLY, NJ. (CBS) -- Fire tore through an abandoned auto parts factory in Burlington County, New Jersey early Thursday morning.

Flames broke out around 3:30 a.m. at the site of the old Arrow Safety Device Company in the 200 block of Holeman Street in Mount Holly and quickly grew to three alarms..

According to their website, the company consolidated in 2008 and moved out-of-state. What was left may have provided accelerants.

"The section that burned houses a machine shop," said Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Gimeno. "It had all wood floors throughout soaked in oil through the years."

The fire spread to two vacant homes and a church. Crews were able to save those buildings, but by late morning, the roof of the warehouse was gone and several walls had collapsed.

Fortunately, the building was vacant and there were no injuries.

"Homeless people are always going to look for a vacant building to sleep in, especially when it's cold like this," said Gimeno. "But, to the best of our knowledge, nobody was inside the building when the fire broke out."

It took more than one hundred firefighters about five hours to contain the blaze.

The cause of fire was being investigated.

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