An early morning fire on Wilkinsville Highway destroyed a dry cleaning business and fire investigators are now trying to determine how the blaze started.
Firefighters responded to Jet Cleaners at 220 Wilkinsville Highway just after 4 a.m. Friday.Firefighters were dispatched to Jet Dry Cleaners at about 4:20 a.m. Friday after an  initial caller informed authorities that flames were venting from the roof, an observation that was confirmed only moments later by a police officer, said Gaffney Fire Chief Nathan Ellis.
Due to the advanced stage of the fire upon their arrival, Ellis said fire crews initiated a defensive attack from the exterior of the building.
While the investigation was still ongoing later Friday morning, Ellis said it appeared the dry cleaning business had been closed for several weeks. No one was inside when the fire broke out and there was no clothing stored in the location, so no customers of the business lost anything.
Fire completely gutted the building, however, and Ellis said the building is a total loss.
Authorities remained at the scene Friday morning as they tried to determine just how the blaze started.A fire investigator from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was called to the scene. Ellis said Friday morning that the ATF was called because a commercial business had burned. He said the investigation was solely focused on determining a cause and origin of the fire.
"It's not suspicious at this point," he said before the investigators assembled to sift through the rubble. Members of the volunteer Cherokee County Fire Investigation Team were dispatched to the scene as well.
Ellis said investigators planned to talk to the building's owners and hoped to talk to the last people who were inside it.
While they were mindful that there was the potential for a dry cleaning business to have chemicals and possibly hazardous materials inside, Ellis said firefighting efforts were not hampered.
More information will be posted online and in print as it becomes available. Investigators remained on the scene at press time Friday.