DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FIRE UNITS ARE STILL on the scene of an explosion that destroyed most of a strip mall around 3 am Tuesday morning on E. Seven Mile Rd.
The explosion was apparently centered in a hardware store and brought the roof down, collapsing the entire store into the basement. The shopping strip housed five businesses including a dollar store, and an auto parts store. The incident was elevated to two alarms and was fought with exterior master streams due to the instability of the entire shopping center.
WXYZ-TV has some early video that shows up following the weather report:
Arson investigators are on the scene now along with the haz-mat team. No other information has been released yet.
The Dollar Store Conspiracy Club grudgingly commends the arsonist for his deceptive practice of destroying the dollar store by blowing up the neighboring business, thus deflecting any investigation efforts away from the true motive.
A DOLLAR GENERAL STORE IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, had a complete burnout Saturday morning while it was open for business. The fire is considered to be suspicious.
WBNS-TV
The fire was first noticed at 10 am. “I saw a flash of light at the top of the ceiling in the back,” employee Miranda Harris told WBNS-TV. “It was orange, so I just asked my boss, ‘Is there a fire back there?’” There was indeed a fire “back there” and all the employees and customers evacuated promptly and safely.
The Columbus FD arrived and successfully contained the fire to the store itself. The extent of the flames endangered the roof trusses early on and the FF’s had to pull back outside. The loss is expected to be from a half- to one-million dollars. A surveillance camera shows a man entering the store just minutes before the fire started and the fire marshal is interested in locating him.
This video report from WCMH-TV shows the surveillance tape along with a good report on the fire:
A DOLLAR GENERAL STORE IN WEST POINT, MISSISSIPPI, burned down Thursday night along with the business next to it. The fire broke out around 7:30 pm while the store was open and customers were inside. The Columbus Dispatch reports:
Robin Pace, manager of the Dollar General, reportedly asked another employee if they smelled cigarette smoke approximately 15 minutes before a customer approached the front of the store and said “Your store’s on fire.” She looked back and could see the flames so she evacuated the store.
Unfortunately, Pace left her own car keys in the store and part of the store’s roof fell on her car.
When the West Point FD arrived on the scene there was already fire showing at the shop. They initiated an interior attack, but after 30 minutes they had to withdraw before the roof came in. The fire was out at 1:45 am and the building was a total loss.
* Fire broke out at the Family Dollar store in Shirley, New York (Long Island), on April 26. Reports say that sparks “dropped down from the ceiling” and set a rack of clothing on fire, sending smoke throughout the shopping center it was located in.
The Mastic Fire Department responded aided by seven other FD’s.
IN MUNCIE, INDIANA, A DOLLAR GENERAL STORE that had been closed after going into receivership experienced a major fire Monday morning. The Muncie Star-Pressreported:
Muncie Fire Battalion Chief Jim Clevenger said the wares and cardboard boxes inside the storefront at 3040 N. Granville Ave. provided a “heavy fire load.” Clevenger said the storefront, part of a strip mall, no longer operates under the Dollar General brand, but a business there appears to be liquidating what remained of the Dollar General inventory.
Firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to the remaining four or five storefronts in the strip mall. “The guys just made a tremendous stop on this fire,” Clevenger said.
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THE VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, FIRE & RESCUE Dept. is on the scene this morning where they have put out a fire at the Baba Dollar store. WAVY-TV Ch. 10 Norfolk has the early video report:
* A DOLLAR STORE IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN, suffered extensive damage early this morning (Thursday) when a suspicious fire raced through it shortly after 4 am. The Detroit Free Press is reporting:
Witnesses told investigators they saw smoke coming from the store at 20320 Schoolcraft, west of Evergreen near I-96, just after a car sped off at 4:24 a.m., according to the Detroit Fire Department.
The witnesses had seen people loading items into the car from the closed store before the fire, according to investigators. The fire damaged thousands of dollars of merchandise in the store as well as the building. No one was injured.
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A MAJOR FIRE IN DOWNTOWN CLINTON, ONTARIO, on Tuesday January 12, started in a Salvation Army food bank and spread to several other business including a Dollar Store that suffered fire and smoke damages. The entire city block was involved in the fire.
A ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, GRAND JURY INDICTED a man who was arrested and charged last week with setting a Family Dollar store on fire back in November that caused more than a million dollars worth of damage to a shopping center (see Firegeezer story HERE). The 40-yr.-old career criminal is alleged to have set the fire to created a diversion so that he could steal money from a cash drawer.
WHAM-TV Ch. 13 has this video report on last week’s arrest:
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* A FIRE AT THE DOLLAR DEPOT STORE in downtown Hobart, Oklahoma, on Saturday December 29, completely gutted the building and caused significant damage to the business on each side of the store.
Democrat-Chief photo
The row of 100-yr.-old buildings has firewalls between most of the structures and that is being credited with saving the entire block from destruction. Over 12 neighboring fire departments responded to provide mutual-aid to the Hobart FD. The fire began around 4 pm and it is unknown what caused it. Source: The Oklahoman.
TODAY IT’S THE FAMILY DOLLAR STORE CHAIN that is taking the hit with two stores in Rochester, New York, believed to be torched, each of them within 30 minutes of each other. The first fire was reported in the Family Dollar store on N. Goodman St. at 11:39 am. The fire was believed to be set, but was relatively small and easily handled by the first-alarm units.
Democrat and Chronicle
About 20 minutes later, shortly after noon, fire was reported at another Family Dollar store less than 3 miles away on N. Clinton Ave. The second fire had a more advanced stage when it was discovered and when the FD arrived it was well-involved. By 12:30 it had been upgraded to a 4th-alarm occupying 15 RFD companies and 2 suburban departments.
WHAM-TV / Deitsch
The Clinton Ave. store is located in a major shopping plaza and the fire spread to several other stores including a pizzeria and the Fireball Wireless cellphone store.
Rochester Fire Lt. Willie Jackson said authorities have notified all local Family Dollar stores that “there may be a problem.”
Around 12:15 p.m., 911 dispatchers broadcast a “special attention” call throughout the county for police agencies to be on the lookout for an apparent arsonist striking Family Dollar stores.
At 2 pm the fire was still out of control and spreading to other stores.
Democrat and Chronicle
The Democrat and Chronicle also filed this video report from the Clinton Ave. fire:
TWO MORE MAJOR FIRES IN DOLLAR STORES OCCURRED THURSDAY NIGHT.
BUFFALO, NEW YORK FIREFIGHTERS responded to a Family Dollar store shortly before 6 pm Thursday where they found heavy smoke and fire conditions. A second alarm was struck immediately for the store which was open for business at the time of the alarm.
The fire caused over $300,000 in damages. WNLO-TV Ch. 23 filed this video report:
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A FIRE IN PARKER, SOUTH DAKOTA, has completely destroyed a downtown building housing the Dakota Dollar Store. The fire broke out about 5:30 pm Central time and brought in 12 neighboring fire departments to assist the Parker FD. Despite a fast start and the heavy involvement, the fire crews did a good job of containing the fire to the building of origin.
The Argus Leader reports:
“It was bizarre,” said Parker Fire chief Bob Masters. “I live three blocks from here and the fire station is right up the street there and by the time I got to the station, you couldn’t see down Main Street, what with all the heavy smoke.”
Witnesses said by 6 p.m., flames could be seen shooting from the roof of Dakota Dollar. The blaze was under control by 9:30 p.m. So much water was needed to fight the fire that tanker trucks from surrounding communities were needed to fill temporary reservoirs set up on the street. Firefighters were never in danger of running out, Masters said.
Argus Leader photo by Shane Merrill
The shop’s owner had just locked up and left the store 20 minutes before.
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