ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – New details are emerging about the fire that tore through the Noke Van Co. building in Roanoke’s Riverdale development in April.
The developer says waterlines to the building’s sprinkler system were out of service at the time of the fire. While it’s unclear when exactly they were turned off, Riverdale said in a statement that because of age and deterioration, the lines “functionally don’t exist” and that plans were made with the fire department to run longer lines to the area in the event of an emergency.
The statement says Riverdale mistakenly believed Noke Van Co’s owners knew about this “historic water line failure”, when in fact, they did not…