A Friday evening fire at a Fourth Plain convenience store caused heavy damage to a back storage room and spread to the store’s roof.
The fire was reported shortly before 6 p.m. at Vick’s Market, 4903 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., near the Dairy Queen and former Golden Skate in the Meadow Homes neighborhood.
A market employee, Saneel George, 35, said he was assisting a customer when other customers alerted him to smoke at the back of the building and called 911. Everyone made it outside safely.
The fire, which was at the southeast corner of the building, was growing rapidly when firefighters arrived just a few minutes later.
Vancouver Fire Department Capt. David James said crews pulled hose lines off of an engine to attack the blaze. Another crew went on the roof, where the fire had burned through the attic of the single-story building, which is attached at the rear to a small strip mall.
At one point a venting propane tank was reported in the back room. Firefighters quickly removed it, James said.
It took about 20 minutes for firefighters to get the blaze under control, James said. Fire personnel remained on scene for a couple of hours, making sure there were no hot spots or potential for the fire to rekindle.
Two dozen firefighters and two battalion chiefs brought two ladder trucks, five engines and one rescue unit to the blaze. Clark Public Utilities responded to cut power to the building. The Vancouver fire marshal was on scene investigating the cause of the fire, James said.
Traffic was detoured around the fire at General Anderson Avenue and Stapleton Road.
