LEXINGTON -- Flames stretched skyward into the night, visible from more than a mile away. By Thursday morning, Lexington Wholesale on Market Street was a smoking pile of rubble.
"Just a fire mess," said Johnny Yarborough, with B&D Drywall.
Yarborough's stucco and stone business next door was also damaged by a collapsing warehouse wall.
"I’ve got a hole in the ceiling, scaffolds covered up in their building," said Yarborough.
Warehouse owner Yiguo Dong surveyed the damage, while talking to investigators looking into a cause.
"It's been delayed by a power line that broke and fell. We've had to wait on crews to make that safe,’’ said J.D. Everhart, fire marshal for the Lexington Fire Department.
Dong didn't want to talk on camera, but said he sold general merchandise to retailers and flea market vendors. Among the rubble there were scotched items like dolls in melted packages and shoes.
"In a situation like where we have the building almost completely destroyed, it make it difficult to determine the origin and cause, but we're going to do the best we can," said Everhart.
While power crews pulled up the downed line and repaired a scortched utility pole.
Yarborough was waiting to clear debris off his scaffolding.
"Trying to get it moved so we can get back to work," he said.
Dong says he wants to rebuild.
At last word, investigators still had not determined a preliminary cause of the fire.