July 25, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Fire Damages Convenience Store

A fire that damaged a local convenience store this morning shortly after 9:00 a.m. may have started from an electrical short in a fuse box. Employees at the Circle K convenience store, Centenary Boulevard and Olive Street, told fire officials that they first herd a "popping sound" coming from the back, storage area of the store, and then detected an electrical smoke smell.

When store manager, Joyce Freeman, 44, and employee Al Fischatti, 63, went to investigate, they found fire on the south wall of the back room surrounding the electrical box. Freeman and Fischatti immediately grabbed fire extinguishers to fight the blaze, which was now extending to the ceiling. "It took about one to one-and-a-half extinguishers to put the fire out - then the sprinklers came on," said Fischatti. It was unclear whether any patrons were in the store at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported.

When firefighters arrived, a light, grey colored smoke was pouring from the store’s front entrance facing Centenary Boulevard. After assuring that the fire was completely extinguished, crews worked to remove the smoke by placing a large gasoline powered fan in the store’s entrance. The smoke removal would have been more expeditious but the employees did not have a key to the back door of the building. Firefighters had to use a technique called "positive displacement" in forcing air in and smoke out of the same opening. "It would have been a lot quicker if we could have moved the air in through the front door and ventilated the smoke out the back," said Captain John Ivory. Adding, "this works, it just takes longer."

Fire department investigators are still on the scene and have not released an official finding. Fire damage to the storage area was listed as moderate, while the entire store suffered smoke damage. ###