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GREENSBORO - A large fire engulfed a warehouse off West Lee Street Friday afternoon, destroying the structure and leaving downtown blanketed in a smoky haze.

Firefighters were called to the former Transportation Systems Inc. warehouse at 402 Tipton Place at 4:51 p.m. to find the structure fully engulfed in flames, said Assistant Fire Chief David Douglas.

Firefighters initially went inside the structure, but quickly evacuated and fought the fire with hoses extended on ladder trucks and on the ground before putting out much of the fire in less than two hours, Douglas said.

Flames completely gutted the inside of the building and caused walls on the structure to collapse.

Douglas said no one was inside the building and there were no reports of injuries. The cause of the fire remained undetermined late Friday night.

Police Chief Tim Bellamy said officers questioned "persons of interest" seen in the area when the fire was reported.

"Someone reported seeing two to three homeless people near the structure when the fire was reported," Bellamy said.

"They were located on South Eugene Street a short time later. They were seen coming out of the building before smoke was seen coming out."

The suspects were released and no charges were filed, police said. An investigation is ongoing.

Mike Synan, the owner of European Auto Works, which sits next door to the warehouse, said the fire spread throughout the structure very quickly.

"We saw the fire coming out of the right-hand side of the building 10 to 15 feet high around 4:30," Synan said.

"By the time the fire department got here flames were coming 20 feet out of the roof."

Synan said the former tenants, Transportation Systems, used the warehouse to ship furniture from High Point to the West Coast and leased the site for more than 20 years until leaving in January.

The company still had trucks on the site and Douglas said they still had some equipment left in the building.

Douglas said the building is owned by Norfolk Southern. It sits near several railroad tracks.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com