Carroll County fire crews battled a 2-alarm fire in Mount Airy Thursday afternoon.
The building on Main Street was engulfed in flames just around 2:30 p.m. and there was still heavy smoke through the night. The building has been on Main Street for almost 100 years. It's been a bottling company, cabinet shop and a Chevrolet dealership.
"It's just amazing how quickly it spread and they just couldn't get it out," said Karen Stanton, who lives behind the building.
The building was so burning so hot, it melted siding on a home next door.
"I've never seen a fire like this, all this black massive smoke. I was concerned about the firefighters," Stanton said.
Over the course of several hours, firefighters dealt with propane tank explosions, a collapsed roof and a temporary lack of water.
"With going to two alarms and the amount of water we were flowing, it drowned the town's water system," said Ivan Browning with the Mt. Airy Volunteer Fire Co.
Ashley Burns and her brother Kyle brought drinks for the crews. Mount Airy restaurants came through to make sure the crews were well fed.
"Being a small community, any time anything happens everyone pitches in," Ashley said.
Residents called the building a landmark, which was most recently used as storage for a sign company. Firefighters don't believe anyone was inside, leaving investigators still wondering how it started.
MT AIRY FIRE: no injuries reported, old Chevy dealership on fire, the roof has collapsed according to firefighters @ABC2NEWS pic.twitter.com/uZrzKTwMdI
— Brendan McNamara (@BrendanABC2) June 15, 2017
There are several residential homes around fire. One has been damaged. @ABC2NEWS
— Brendan McNamara (@BrendanABC2) June 15, 2017
