Gilroy
– A two-alarm fire smoldered in a rear storage area of 99 Cents
City for more than three hours Tuesday afternoon, causing smoke
damage to much of the front retail area and forcing the store’s
owners to close indefinitely.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – A two-alarm fire smoldered in a rear storage area of 99 Cents City for more than three hours Tuesday afternoon, causing smoke damage to much of the front retail area and forcing the store’s owners to close indefinitely.
As firefighters were wrapping up just after 5:30pm, a county investigator was due to help determine the cause of the blaze.
When three Gilroy Fire Department engines, a medical unit, and one South Santa Clara California Department of Forestry engine arrived on the scene at 2:16pm, only light smoke was seen coming from the back of the building. Once the bay doors were opened, however, smoke began billowing out and firefighters saw the sprinklers had been activated, said Division Chief Clay Bentson.
Tejvir Kaur, co-owner of the 6900 Chestnut St. store, was working inside when the fire broke out.
She said she had helped a customer locate an item she wanted.
“Then, just a minute later, she came to me and she told me, ‘There is a big fire’,” Kaur said. “She pointed to the back, and I saw there were flames.”
Kaur, who along with Balkar Singh has owned 99 Cents City for about two years, checked to ensure the restrooms were empty and had all the customers evacuate the store, she said. No injuries were reported.
The store’s alarm company was the first to report the fire to the GFD, followed by a customer and a passer-by.
“There were some alarms,” said Thomas Chung, whose family owns Fashion Venus next to the store. “I didn’t see anything, but it smelled like something was burning inside.”
Division Chief Ed Bozzo said some of the 26 firefighters on scene worked to clear the smoke before the actual firefighting could start.
“There were visible flames, but the sprinkler system kept the flames in check,” Bozzo said.
But because the store room was filled with products, stacked almost from floor-to-ceiling, the sprinklers were not quickly extinguishing the fire, Bozzo said. Firefighters used chain saws to cut holes, at least 4-feet-by-4-feet, in the roof of the building to ventilate the heavy smoke.
The sprinklers in the immediate area of the fire kept it contained to the storage area, but much of the main retail area of the store had smoke damage, Bozzo said.
“We’re trying to determine how it started and how much damage there was,” Bozzo said Tuesday evening.
Investigators were interviewing Singh and Kaur to find out what type of items were kept in the storage area.
Serdar Tumgoren contributed to this report.
