Greenville, NC firefighters spent Wednesday night putting out a fire at Keel's Tobacco Warehouse on Watagua Avenue.

The cause of the blaze was unknown shortly after 10 p.m., said Greenville Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Doug Branch. A crew of firefighters planned to stay at the scene until this morning to search for a cause, he said.

The city of Greenville owns the warehouse property. A portion of the facility has been taken down. Demolition of the remaining 85,000-square-foot structure is under way.

The contractors "are removing the roof of this building first and are in the process of cutting the steel off this roof and storing it in the four walls for removal later," Branch said.

The wood and tar from the roof caught fire. It was an approximately 1,000-square-foot pile of rubbish that burned, he said.

The demolition contractor, whose name was unavailable Tuesday, had welding equipment outside the building and excavating equipment stored inside the structure. The fire did not threaten any of the equipment, Branch said.

Twenty-five firefighters from three stations got the fire under control. A Greenville Utilities crew also was on standby.

The warehouse borders a neighborhood. No one had to be evacuated from their homes, Branch said.

The city of Greenville ordered the demolition of the remaining warehouse structure earlier this fall as part of a deal to sell the property, City Manager Wayne Bowers said. Garris-Evans Lumber Co. has offered to buy the property on the condition the structure is demolished, he said. Details of the sale were not available Wednesday night.

Bowers said he didn't expect the fire to delay the demolition process or the proposed property sale.