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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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:
* * * * *
* 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:
* * * * *
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.
Recent Comments