PHOTOS: The Sumter Fire Department is battling a structure fire near South Lafayette Drive and Fulton Street that broke out a little after 10 p.m. Tuesday. The building, the former VB Williams Furniture Plant located at 602 E Fulton St, is engulfed in flames. The building is now known as Howell’s recyclable Materials, a recyclables warehouse according to officials.
Very few people work there and the plant sits in an industrial park inside of a neighborhood. Sumter Fire were assisted by crews from Shaw Air Force Base and Columbia Fire. No injuries have been reported and officials do not believe that anyone was in the building when the fire started.
Joey Duggan, Division Chief of Sumter Fire Department says that walls have collapsed and propane cylinders have gone off within the building, damaging equipment that was used inside.