[1]Plastic pop bottles in the rear of the grocery melted during the fire, but it was put out before causing exterior damage.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
NAPAVINE – It will be a least three weeks before Annie’s Market in Napavine reopens following last week’s fire.
The inventory has all been removed from the grocery store and yellow tape still blocks the entrance.
Janet Stowe, whose family has owned the Napavine Shopping Center for more than three decades, said they are waiting for the various insurance companies involved to figure out what to do.
“And with the holidays, it’s just gotten delayed,” Stowe said today.
From the outside, the 1970s era strip mall off Washington Street looks unscathed.
The destruction from the fire itself was contained to the area around Annie’s front counter and cash register, but the smoke and heat damage was extensive, according to Lewis County Fire District 5’s Lt. Laura Hanson.
Hanson said the intensity of the heat was such that two-liter pop bottles at the back of the store started to melt and their tops tipped toward the flames.
The adjacent Napavine Laundromat reopened the following day, but Sahara Pizza at the far end of the commercial structure remains shut down.
It seems they drew smoke through their ventilation system, Stowe said.
Also untouched were two separate buildings in the shopping center, Ace Hardware to the east and the storage business in the back.
The fire broke out about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, just 30 minutes before closing time.
Two customers arriving told the clerk they thought there was smoke under counter, Stowe said.
Stowe said she was just exiting the Laundromat when the clerk walked out the front door of the grocery.
“I ran to my car to get my fire extinguisher but by the time I turned around, I could see flames a good two feet over the counter,” she said.
Stowe said she was grateful the fire started during business hours, and on a night when the mostly volunteer fire department was gathered at the station for a meeting.
“I would like to say how phenomenal that fire department was in getting there so quickly, and getting the fire out with minimal water damage,” she said.
Nobody was injured and the preliminary cause, as told to Stowe by the fire investigator, appeared to be accidental and electrical.
The best case scenario for the two businesses to serve customers again is in three weeks, maybe four, she said.