North Carolina Insurance Dept. Takes Over Investigation Into Furniture Plant Fire

September 26, 2022

An investigation into a fire that destroyed a 40-year-old furniture upholstery business in North Carolina has been turned over to the state Department of Insurance.

Morgan Chair, a 25-employee company in Stanfield, North Carolina, was almost completely burned to the ground Sept. 16, according to local news reports. No one was injured, but the business lost everything, company officials said.

“I literally walked out with a laptop and tape measure and we had to start over from that,” owner Jesse Morgan told WBTV news.

Morgan Chair had over 800 orders pending. And within two days, the firm had relocated its operation to a vacant building in Oakboro, the Stanly News & Press reported.

Late last week, local fire officials said the insurance department investigators will now examine the cause and potential perpetrators of the blaze.

“We turned the origin and cause investigation over to the State Fire Marshal’s office Fire Investigation Unit,” Stanly County Assistant Fire Marshal Evan Faulkner told the newspaper. “We’re still assisting them, but they’re actually the ones that will be writing the final report.”

The department is sometimes asked to investigate fires that result in large losses of property, Faulkner said.

Topics North Carolina

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