Lamar Evers was heard on the phone early Thursday morning telling customers to give him a day to get things straight.
Evers and his staff at Milton Carpet Center were still reeling from a fire, which destroyed his warehouse and for the moment slowed down his business.
"Right now we are waiting to speak with the insurance company and adjustors," Evers said Thursday morning. "We are still open and taking calls, but we are needing to get things squared away and see where we are."
The Milton Fire Department extinguished the fire, which occurred just before 10 p.m., by 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
"I know a lot of people who talk bad about the firemen," Evers said. "But if it wasn't for the Milton Fire Department getting here as quickly as they did and putting out this fire the building would have been gone.
"Another five minutes later and this building would have been down to the ground."
The Milton Fire Department was assisted fighting the blaze by the Avalon and Skyline fire departments.
Holley-Navarre Fire Department, who was assisting with a fire in East Milton's district, was coming to assist but just stood by according to Milton Fire Chief John Reble.
"We received multiple calls of flames showing and by the time we arrived saw heavy smoke and flames coming from the rear of the building" Reble said. "It took us awhile to battle the blaze, but I was surprised how quickly we knocked it down."
The Holley-Navarre unit volunteered to assist while in the area since they also have a five inch fire hose, but by the time they arrived after the East Milton incident was controlled, Milton, Avalon, and Skyline had the fire under control.
"We had a water shuttle system in place by the time Holley-Navarre was available because the closest hydrant was at the corner of Highway 90 and Glover Lane," Reble said.
Evers stated Milton Carpet Center will go on and remain open, but they might have to operate from a different location for a short period of time.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Fire damages Milton Carpet Center