CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Clayton County firefighters are working to extinguish a fire near Rex.
The fire started earlier Tuesday evening and has destroyed two structures.
No one is believed to have been in the building when the fire started and as of late Tuesday night, crews told Channel 2’s Michael Doudna that the fire was 80% contained with firefighters on the back end of the building which is hard to reach.
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“All of a sudden I hear a boom, and I go to my window, and see a wildfire, super wildfire,” Kaseme Hurt, a witness, said.
Shortly after that boom, neighbors watched 10 fire trucks and 46 firefighters try to put out the flames.
“It sounded like gunshots. It was constantly popping. Just pop, pop, pop, pop,” Hurt said.
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“I’ve been here 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” witness Raymond Mcmullin said.
Clayton County Fire Rescue said they got the first call about the fire in the early evening.
When they arrived, they found a building completely engulfed.
“From one end of the structure to the other end, nothing but fire across the entire roof of the structure,” said Clayton County Fire Chief Tim Sweat.
Sweat said two structures were caught in the fire, both belonging to Rex Furniture.
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“We are estimating about 200,000 square feet of warehouse facility, with the interior contents majority being mattress and furniture,” Sweat said.
Firefighters continued to fight the flames throughout the night but said both buildings did have highly compostable material inside.
They say it will take some time before they know exactly what caused the fire.
“This will be a long-out scene as we will be here more than likely throughout the night and then the investigation process will begin as soon as we can get it under control,” Sweat said.
Sweat said it is a complex fire to put out but luckily, no one is expected to have been inside the buildings.
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