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 Fire destroys Ignacio Movies
12/6/2007 By: Melanie Mazur
A fire Tuesday morning inside Ignacio Movies destroyed the interior of the building. Ignacio Shur-Valu, which is in the same building, had some smoke damage, but was able to re-open that day.
Fire investigators for the Los Pinos Fire Protection District and insurance companies believe the fire was accidental and might have started around the sales counter, said Los Pinos Deputy Chief Tom Aurnhammer.
The fire department received the call at 7:12 a.m. from Ignacio Police Chief Kirk Phillips, whose office is across the street.
The store is located at 555 Goddard Ave., only a few blocks from the Los Pinos main station. Firefighters were on the scene within a few minutes. It also occurred just after the 7 a.m. shift change, so more firefighters than usual were available to respond, Aurnhammer said.
“That helped us tremendously, then the response of our volunteers was tremendous,” he said.
Linda Meisner, owner of Ignacio Movies, said she isn’t exactly sure what she’ll do with the business now. People who had rented movies and not returned them should just keep them, she said.
All of the contents of the store were destroyed. She has owned the business for 12 years, and her mother owned it before that.
The McClanahan family, which owns and leases the building, had planned to renovate both the video store and an empty retail space next to it.
Meisner said she might wait for the renovations to take place and decide if she wants to re-open the store. She had insurance for the business because of burglaries that had taken place there over the years.
“People just like to steal DVDs, I guess,” she said.
Los Pinos responded with its ladder truck, two fire engines and three tankers. Upper Pine Fire Protection District sent a fire engine, as well. There were no injuries, Aurnhammer said.
“We’re very happy with the turnout and response we had,” he said. Police Chief Phillips seconded that as well, saying if the fire had spread, it could have been much worse for the grocery store and area residents.
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