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Rex Healthcare construction site catches fire

Firefighters went to the Knightdale facility Thursday night after a stack of insulation on the roof caught fire. They had to climb construction ladders to get to it because there are no stairs yet.

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KNIGHTDALE, N.C. — Investigators were trying to determine what sparked a fire at the site where Rex Healthcare is building a new ambulatory care center in Knightdale.

Firefighters went to the facility at about 9 p.m. Thursday after a stack of insulation on the roof caught fire.

No one was injured. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Knightdale Fire Chief Timothy Guffey said fighting the flames was not the biggest issue for his firefighters. The real problem was getting to the fire.

"(It's) a new building. It's hard to make access to the roof, and (there's) no attached stairwell from one floor to the next," he said.

With no stairs, the firefighters climbed construction ladders to get to the top of the building and extinguish the fire.

The fire did not do any structural damage to the building, Guffey said, and construction should be on track so the building can open in May 2009.

Rex Healthcare broke ground on the 63,000-square-foot center on April 17. The $9.6 million facility is at the intersection of Interstate 540 and U.S. Highway 64.

It will provide urgent care, laboratory services, X-rays, digital mammography, a mobile CT unit, a sleep lab and a wound-healing center. Physicians will have offices there, too.

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