kinston search and rescuer sees it from miles away. >> i heard an explosion and saw the smoke rising above the trees. i thought it was a plane crash into the building. i thought there would be a lot of casualties. i've never been in a fire or any incident of that size before. >> the north county fire marshal is also called in that day. >> we're in rural eastern north carolina, a small town. when this happened, it took every resource within our county. for the fire service, this is our world trade center. >> a little more than a year after the 9/11 attack, has small town kinston been the target? with 130 employees on site at the time of the accident, officials quickly rule out that an airplane is to blame. >> within the first hour of being on the scene and contacting the tower at the airport, no evidence of any plane striking the building was seen. so we ruled out a plane going into the building fairly early. >> officer woody spencer of the kinston police department documents the scene on video. >> it was total chaos. flames and smoke billowing from the building. when i started the vi