Video: Local Convenience Store Catches On Fire

BELLEFONTAINE, Miss. (WCBI)-An early morning fire leaves heavy damage at the Bellefontaine Grocery Store.

Walthall, Eupora, and Bellefontaine fire departments received the call at 5 A.M. Monday morning and responded to the scene.

The owner of the store tells WCBI, the morning crew shift manager was inside cooking biscuits and setting up the store when the fire broke out.

Thankfully, he was able to make it out safely.

Bellefontaine is a small community, and the store was the only one in town. Residents say losing this store is a devastating blow.

“Sad, I cried, it’s just bad,” said Bellefontaine resident Tim Tindall.

That was Tindall’s immediate reaction when he drove up to the Bellefontaine Grocery Store and saw the yellow caution tape wavering in the wind.

Only to find out the only store in his hometown caught on fire Monday morning.

“It has heavy damage on the inside, not a lot of damage visible from the outside,” said Barry Rushing, Webster County Fire Coordinator. “It has a lot of water damage, fire damage, smoke damage, a lot of that on the inside.”

It took volunteer fire crews an hour to put out the blaze. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

However, the owner of the store said he believes the fire started from old wires in the ceiling.

“Everything in there will probably be a total loss, because it got so hot in there, I so I feel like everything in there was a total loss,” said Rushing.

The fire now leaves residents in Bellefontaine without a place to purchase their groceries in town.

Tindall said he used to come to the store twice a day. He said the store was a big convenience for him because he was able to get everything he needed all in one trip.

“I come early every morning and get ice, and comeback in the afternoon and get ice,” said Tindall. “I smoke cigarettes so I get cigarettes, drinks, food, it’s just a bad day.”

Just above the entrance of the store are three surveillance cameras.

The Webster county sheriff department is currently looking at the video to determine the exact cause of the fire, and where the fire started.

“At this time I don’t suspect foul play, but like I said, it’s under investigation,” said Rushing.

No one was injured during the fire.

The fire is being investigated by the Webster County Fire Coordinator and the Webster County Sheriff’s Department.