Early-Morning Fire Damages Helping Hand Mission on Rock Quarry Road; No Injuries

Flames damaged the office and storage facility used by Helping Hand Mission at 623 Rock Quarry Road in southeast Raleigh after a fire that was reported around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, March 1, 2026. Raleigh fire officials and local broadcasters said no one was injured, but the nonprofit’s primary operations space sustained heavy interior and front-end damage and is now being treated as unsafe.

Helping Hand Mission founder and CEO Sylvia Wiggins, who said she “woke to the news,” described a devastated worksite and lost resources. “Some of the stuff we were working on has been burned down. The inside of the building is major,” Wiggins said. She added, “It's now considered an unsafe building. All our contacts and the people we had on our list to work with and help-all that's gone now. Everything in our office was just burned out.”

Raleigh fire crews mounted a large response, with about 40 firefighters initially on scene and an additional 25 personnel called in because of the facility’s size. Battalion Chief Dena Ali said, “It's a pretty large building, and with the amount of property on site, we called for a second alarm.” Ali also said, “There's a lot of damage to the front of the building. But fortunately, the first-arriving crews did a really good job and prevented the fire from spreading inside.”

Accounts vary on how long active flames persisted. WRAL reported that firefighters said the blaze was under control in about 45 minutes, and video captured plumes of smoke coming from the top of the building. Hoodline reported that crews battled visible flames and heavy smoke pushing off the roof for hours and worked through the morning to get the situation under control. Investigators remained at the scene as of midday Sunday and officials had not released a cause.

The fire destroyed materials that staff had been preparing to distribute to families in need. Abc11 reported many boxed items and other donated materials intended for clients were lost in the blaze. Helping Hand Mission, which Abc11 said has served Raleigh for more than 50 years, provides food, clothing, furniture and shelter referrals and lists fire victims among the people it assists. Hoodline noted that the organization blends thrift-style donations with emergency aid and that the Rock Quarry Road site is the group’s main Raleigh address.

Photographs from the scene were posted by the Raleigh Professional Fire Fighters Association, which praised crews on Facebook, writing, “Phenomenal work by all crews on scene battling a tough fire in even tougher conditions.” WRAL captured video showing plumes of smoke and reported the fire department and local media are working to learn the extent of damages and the official cause.

With the building declared unsafe and no damage estimate yet released, Helping Hand Mission and Hoodline urged residents to monitor the nonprofit’s official channels and the City of Raleigh’s resource listings for updates on services, donations and volunteer needs. Wiggins closed with a pledge to persevere: “We would never let this go. This is bigger than me, bigger than a building. We are very resilient, and we're going to continue.”