FAIRMONT — With hotspots still burning, investigators plan to begin this afternoon sifting through a nearly empty warehouse that was leveled by a fire on Wednesday.

“It’s been so hot, we’ve been interviewing people, doing some investigative stuff until we can get in,” said Capt. Jon Edwards, with Fairmont Police Department, which is investigating the fire with help from the State Bureau of Investigation.

Wednesday’s blaze drew about 15 fire departments to the former Hi Dollar Warehouse on the 1200 block of South Main Street in Fairmont. Smoke from the fire was visible miles away, and hung low on surrounding residential streets for much of Wednesday afternoon, although nearby Fairmont Community Park and downtown Fairmont were clear.

The 75,000-square-foot building was already damaged and caving in, prompting town officials to contact the owner about repairing it or tearing it down.

Edwards said it’s too early to guess at a cause for the fire.

The warehouse had previously served as a tobacco warehouse, but more recently had been used for storage. Several cars were stored at the building and some were destroyed by the fire. No injuries were reported.

The fire, which began in the back left corner of the building, was reported about 1 p.m. Edwards said he was on the scene at 11 p.m. Wednesday and firefighters were still spraying the smoldering building, which had produced heavy smoke throughout the day.

Sheriff’s Lt. Brian Duckworth, a fire investigator, said he had spotted plumes of smoke while in Maxton, about 20 miles away.

As many as 75 firefighters responded to the blaze, including the building’s owner, Zax Abdil, who is a Fairmont fireman.

“I’m just glad there’s no loss of life or any injuries,” said Fairmont Commissioner Terry Evans, who was on the scene Wednesday afternoon.

Fairmont commissioners last year began the process of trying to get Abdil to either fix or tear down the building, saying rotting supports and a partially caved-in roof posed a safety threat. The board recently sent Abdil a letter requesting action.

Abdil’s girlfriend, Joanna Morgan, was among those watching the massive response effort Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s overwhelming,” she said.

Morgan said Abdil had owned the building about five years. Among the items lost to the fire were photos of Morgan’s nephew, 14-year-old Daylon Cummings, who was one of four teenagers killed in a collision with an empty school bus on Wire Grass Road in November 2014.

“That’s the only thing that bothers me,” she said. “All the other stuff can be replaced, but those memories can’t be replaced.”

Morgan said she found out about the blaze while at work. A neighbor who spotted the beginnings of the fire called it in, and seeing it was small, left the house.

“When she came back, the whole building was gone,” Morgan said.

The proximity of nearby homes is what prompted so many fire departments to be called, according to Robeson County Fire Marshal Stephanie Chavis, but none were damaged. Duke Energy power lines downed during the blaze were determined by crews to not be live.

Orrum Fire Chief Steve Britt said Columbus County departments had also been put on standby but were not called. In addition to departments from all over the county, the Forestry Service was also called in as well as Lumberton Rescue and EMS, which set up an aid tent and was handing out water to firefighters.

“They just worked and worked and worked,” said Charles Kemp, a town commissioner.

Kemp, who is co-curator at the Border Belt Farmers Museum, which catalogues Fairmont’s history as a major tobacco market, said dances used to be held in the warehouse during the town’s annual Farmers Festival. He said the building “was one of the last if not the last” wood and tin tobacco warehouses left standing in a town that was once home to 30 tobacco warehouses.

“My perspective from being a curator at the museum and a lifelong resident of Fairmont is that you hate to see icons of history leave us,” he said. “We’ve lost so many of the warehouses and so much of our past greatness in tobacco has been taken away. This is the removal of just another image that reminds people of our tobacco heritage and it’s a sad loss.”