JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – The fire that destroyed a Jacksonville furniture store was caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials, according to an investigation released by the Jacksonville Fire Department.
Jacksonville Fire Chief Tee Tallman said the Furniture Plus fire started outside after the improper disposal of a cigarette near garbage.
“Somebody was smoking a cigarette or what appeared to be a cigarette or something of that nature,” Tallman said.
The fire destroyed the building owned by Greg Popkin, the owner of High Point Furniture Store on Lejeune Boulevard. Five firefighters were injured fighting the blaze but all five are healthy and back to work, Tallman said.
WITN obtained documents that said Furniture Plus failed a fire inspection six weeks before the fire. Tallman would not talk about previous inspections.
“I’m not gonna quote anything from the specific inspections but in any business, there is always stock moving in and out so depending on the time, time of the year whatever there’s always stock moving in and out of businesses,” Tallman said.
Fire reports obtained by WITN show that Furniture Plus failed an inspection in March 2022 with concerns over rubbish and trash both inside and outside the building. The next month, inspectors returned but not everything was fixed as the department requested, according to the reports.
Tallman would not say if Furniture Plus was ever fined.
“We do have the ability to levy fines if people are not complying with the fire code. But like I said our goal is education and then compliance so we don’t like to use fine but that is a method we could use to get compliance,” Tallman said.
When asked if the fire could have been prevented, Tallman said he would not comment on specifics.
“I’m not gonna comment on that. Everybody can do things to prevent a fire. It’s devastating, it’s tragic, we all have a responsibility to prevent fires,” Tallman said.
Popkin did not respond to a request for comment.
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