kinston search and rescuer sees it from miles away. >> i heard an explosion and saw the smoke risingve 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? potential casualties could be high, 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. there were trucks and people runnin