Laurel County business damaged by overnight fire

EAST BERNSTADT, Ky. (WTVQ)- A Laurel County business owner credits a passerby for calling 911 early Thursday morning as buildings on his property started to burn.

“There was a young man that worked at WalMart who saw it in the early stages or it could’ve been much worse,” says Clyde Casteel.

Casteel owns Casteel Auction Company on Highway 490 in Laurel County. He says he was sleeping early this morning when he awoke to doors slamming and flames shooting out of a trailer he owns — it sits up against the building he uses for his business.

Firefighters say they got the scene around 1:30 a.m. and started right away to try and prevent the business from burning as badly as the trailer.

“Well the trailer next door was like a storage trailer but there wasn’t much at all in it fortunately,” says Casteel.

All you could see remaining from that trailer was the frame of a burned up chair and a charred wooden chest. Casteel says he was only days away from using the trailer for more storage. He was hoping to keep damaged furniture inside for repairing.

Firefighters say arson investigators are taking over the case.