Wade Manufacturing Engulfed In Flames Friday; Several Fire Crews Respond to Disperse Flames

ROCKINGHAM – It was a busy Friday afternoon for the Rockingham Fire Department.

Usually, RFD responds to many fire alarms at industrial plants in their fire district, but that wasn’t the case Friday afternoon. RFD responded to a major fire at Wade Manufacturing located at 235 River Road.

When the tones sounded at 2:58 p.m., firemen had just finished putting their equipment back from an earlier structure fire off of Wiregrass Road.

Assistant Chief Vernon McKinnon knew this was not going to be another check-and-leave alarm call when he and his crew arrived on River Road.

Upon arrival, McKinnon had to make some quick decisions on where to place his equipment and where to make the initial attack. 

Smoke was billowing from the water filtration department of the plant, and had worked its way into the ceiling of the west side of the plant. 

With attacks from the ground, as well as heavy streams of water from Rockingham’s ladder truck, and additional support from Hamlet Fire Department’s ladder truck, the fire was brought under control in approximately two hours.

Mutual aid departments remained on the scene another two hours extinguishing hot spots and checking other parts of the plant for remaining flames and damage. RFD remained on the scene until after 8 p.m.

Other departments that assisted Rockingham were HFD,Cordova Fire Rescue, FirstHealth Richmond EMS and Rockingham Police Department.

The investigation into the actual cause is expected to continue in the coming days. There are no reports of injuries at this time. The Richmond Observer will continue to monitor and report on any updates as they are made available.