Click here to view video of the fire.

Brad McQueen, owner of Hickory Furniture Designs at 107 W. 14th St. in Lapel, said 10 to 12 employees had been in the shop making furniture when the fire broke out about 9:15 a.m. No one was injured.

Firefighters from Lapel, Pendleton, Ingalls, Frankton, Anderson and Wayne Township in Hamilton County were called for mutual aid, Lapel Fire Chief Jeff Passwater said, but the 5,000-square-foot building was a total loss.

Passwater said it took firefighters 45 minutes to an hour to contain the fire, but hot spots continued to fan the flames and create a plume of smoke that could be seen from Anderson late Wednesday morning.

To conserve the town’s water supply, firefighters stopped using hydrants and called in tanker trucks to bring water from the nearby stone quarry to quell the three-story-tall flames from the low building.

“We can’t run the tower completely empty,” Passwater said while firefighters still were working on hot spots. “Right now, we’re still a little conservative on water.”

Passwater said the furniture factory’s employees tried to put out the fire with an extinguisher to no avail. The building did not have a sprinkler system.

Firefighters rushed to save a house at the northeast corner of the building, and Passwater did not know Wednesday afternoon whether the house had sustained smoke, fire or water damage.

McQueen said his business would rebuild. Some of the factory’s handmade chairs and tables were lined up outside the building, a frantic attempt by workers to save what inventory they could before fire consumed the building.

“It just happened quick,” McQueen said. “I’m just glad nobody got hurt. We’ll be fine.”

Hickory Furniture Designs makes hickory stick-style furniture, including chairs, barstools, benches, beds, tables and custom designs.

Lynette Burris was working in Shear Style salon, situated just east of the furniture factory, when she heard workers moving furniture outside and started smelling smoke.

“The town called and told me to evacuate,” she said. “(The salon) was filling with smoke when I left. Hopefully there’s not a bunch of smoke damage.”

Lapel residents Chris McClintock and Zach Baird said the furniture factory had been the town’s bowling alley, a pizza restaurant and a church in the past.

“It’s been everything,” McClintock said. “There were some memories.”