Niles Walmart has fire scare
Published 8:21 am Monday, March 24, 2014
An issue with Walmart’s HVAC system caused a fire scare Friday morning. Customers and employees were asked to leave the building while the fire department investigated the issue. (Leader photo/JENNY YARBROUGH)
By JENNY YARBROUGH
jenny.yarbrough@leaderpub.com
For the second time this year Walmart employees and patrons were evacuated from the store on South 11th Street in Niles.
Around 12 p.m. Friday afternoon firefighters from the Niles Township Fire Department were called to the scene after the smell of smoke was discovered near the automotive department.
Employees outside the store waiting to return to work were told to leave the building.
Upon arrival smoke was coming from one of the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) units on the roof. Fire Chief Gary Brovold said it was “most likely a faulty HVAC unit.”
He said that there was a pulley squeaking from one of the HVAC units so they cut the power to it. Firefighters checked all of the rooftop units as well as inside the building to ensure that there was nothing wrong in the void space between the ceiling and the roof itself. Nothing was found.
Chief Brovald suspects that electricity going off and coming back on this morning caused the incident. For unknown reasons Walmart lost power at two different times Friday morning but came back on right away each time. After being closed for approximately 20 minutes the store reopened for business.
