Wall fire at Lower Burrell supermarket causes evacuation

A fire in a wall Friday afternoon at the Community Supermarket in Lower Burrell caused an evacuation of the store for about half an hour.

Crews responded to the grocery store, 3220 Leechburg Road, just before 4 p.m. for a smell of something burning, said Brennan Sites, chief of Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Company No. 3.

There was nothing showing from the outside of the building when crews arrived, Sites said. When firefighters entered the store, they located the fire inside a wall near the purified water and dairy section, he said.

Crews shut off power to that section of the store to extinguish the fire, Sites said. The store was evacuated for about half an hour.

No one was hurt.

“To my knowledge, no produce or inventory was lost,” Sites said.

The chief said the fire’s cause is still under investigation.

A store manager said he was unable to comment.

Cindy Homburg of Tarentum was inside the store when it was evacuated.

“Everybody was running up to the front of the store,” she said. “There was eight fire trucks out there and police cars.”

Responding companies included crews from Lower Burrell, New Kensington, Arnold, Tarentum, Plum and Upper Burrell.