Vacant House Fire Near North Hills Closes Millbrook Road During Morning Commute

A fire tore through a vacant two-story wood-frame house near North Hills Drive and W. Millbrook Road on Monday morning, sending a large plume of smoke above the treeline and forcing the closure of Millbrook Road for several hours during the height of the morning commute.

The fire was reported at about 7:40 a.m. on March 9, though officials told WRAL the blaze began around 7:30 a.m. Crews arrived to find heavy fire already visible from the roof. Flames and smoke pushed well beyond the surrounding treeline, and WRAL reporter Ally Kadlubar noted the smoke was visible even five minutes away from the scene.

The intersection leading to the house was blocked off entirely, forcing WRAL News to access the scene from behind. By 8:15 a.m., the WRAL Breaking News Tracker had reached the property near North Hills Drive. Sky 5 flew over the scene at 8:45 a.m. and captured aerial footage showing the scale of the blaze, with a thick column of smoke rising above the trees in one of north Raleigh's busier residential corridors.

Firefighters at the scene told WRAL News that the abandoned home had been used for training exercises for several months. Officials were quick to draw a distinction, however: Monday's fire was not a training event, and the cause remains under investigation.

No injuries were reported in the available information, and no details on the property's ownership or the exact duration of the Millbrook Road closure beyond "several hours" were immediately available. The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.