Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – At least nine different agencies responded to a fire at Label Shopper in the Warren Mall Plaza on Sunday.
UPDATE, April 24, 2:30 p.m. – Preliminary investigation results indicate arson
All patrons and employees were able to evacuate safely and no injuries were reported as a result of the fire. The cause of the fire was still under investigation as of 8:15 p.m. Sunday, April 23.
“It was put out quickly,” North Warren VFD Chief Shawn Jones said. “The length of time that we spent there was more getting the smoke out of the building and making sure there’s no extension.”
This video, courtesy of Stacey Gross, captured firefighters’ arrival at the incident.
“The guys, our initial responding crew, they made an interior attack with a two-and-a-half inch line, knocked the fire down quickly,” Jones said. “And again, from that point forward, it was just what we call salvage and overhaul, evacuating smoke and things such as that.”
North Warren firefighters were assisted at the scene by crews from Glade Township, Warren City, Russell, Scandia, Lander, Bear Lake, Pleasant Township, Starbrick, Pennsylvania State Police, and EmergyCare.
“Our department we set our commercial fire alarms or structure fire resource lifts to be on a very much heavy side,” Jones said. “Especially buildings like that. Actually, it went to what we call a second alarm so that brought even more than what was on the initial response. We do that on purpose though, we want to make sure we get the manpower and equipment in place in a timely fashion.”
Jones said there was no structural damage done to Label Shopper, and that the store should be able to reopen after the investigation into the cause is complete. Napoli Pizza, which is right next door to Label Shopper, had to close for the day due to “a little bit of smoke traveling over to that side,” but was not directly impacted by the fire.
The response was the second multi-agency dispatch to the store Sunday afternoon. The first call was received at approximately 1:45 p.m., and firefighters were on scene for a little over an hour. The second call came in just before 3:30 p.m.
Firefighters who responded to the first call told Your Daily Local that there was an HVAC malfunction, but no fire was found.
