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See billowing smoke from fire that threatened a Charlotte business Wednesday afternoon

Plumes of smoke billowed from a fire at a Charlotte paper plant on Wednesday.
Plumes of smoke billowed from a fire at a Charlotte paper plant on Wednesday. WSOC

Plumes of smoke billowed from a fire in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon.

Firefighters saw flames when they arrived at a building in the 200 block of East 28th Street just after 3 p.m., Charlotte Fire officials said on X, formerly Twitter.

The fire was near a building belonging to paper-recycler International Paper, Charlotte Observer news partner WSOC reported.

The plumes of smoke changed from white to blue to gray, according to the station.

Firefighters arrived within three minutes of the call of a fire to find a large pile of debris engulfed in flames, fire officials said on X. Heavy smoke neared the building, officials said.

Medic sent two vehicles to the scene. “No injuries at the moment,” Medic said on X.

“Despite challenging conditions with thick smoke filling the area, Charlotte Fire crews worked swiftly and decisively to contain the fire’s spread,” fire officials said on X.

At 3:08 p.m., a second alarm sounded, bringing more ladder and engine companies to the fire. Once firefighters contained the blaze, heavy machinery separated sections of the debris pile to make sure that hot spots were extinguished.

The fire was brought under control at 4:34 p.m., and no injuries were reported, Charlotte Fire reported. Fire officials were still determining the cause late Wednesday .

This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 5:30 PM.

Joe Marusak
The Charlotte Observer
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
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