Posted: 10/25/05
Close call at Quillinís
Neighborís quick response helped prevent store damage from fire
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
A fire of unknown origin destroyed a shed on the south side of Quillinís grocery store in Caledonia on October 18.
Quick action by the Meyer family across the street and the Caledonia Fire Department kept the fire from spreading to the store itself.
Tracey Meyer spotted the fire at about 10 p.m. when she looked out a window from her house at 417 Vista Drive. She told her sister, Michelle, 17, who called 9-1-1, then called the store to alert the employees. Michelle works at the store.
Then Michelleís father, Mike, went into action. He is a fireman, but this time he used a smaller hose, a 150-foot garden variety. He stretched it from his house across Vista Drive, and sprayed down the area around and under the loading dock door. The ìbumpersî around the door had started to burn.
The Caledonia Fire Department arrived in about 3-1/2 minutes, chief Chuck Gavin said. Gavin lives next door to the Meyers.
ìVery close call,î Gavin said of the fire. ìThe flames licked up the side of the building and were taller than the roof when we first seen it.î
That prompted firemen to call Spring Grove Fire Department for mutual aid. The call was canceled when firemen found that the fire hadnít got into the building.
ìIt looked a lot worse than it really was,î Gavin said.
Store manager Lori Thillen feels that Meyer saved the building with his quick action. ìWeíre very grateful today,î she said on October 19. ìWe almost didnít have a place to come to work today.î
Gavin said there was no good cause for the fire. ìWeíre still working on that,î he said. The building contained bags of salt and empty cardboard boxes.
Caledonia Police Officer James Stemper wrote in his report of the fire, ìItís my conclusion that an employee took a cigarette break and didnít properly extinguish it.î
Gavin told The Argus that it would be difficult for a cigarette to light cardboard. He is consulting with a state deputy fire marshal on the incident.
Thillen is also unsure of the cause. ìWe donít know what happened,î she said.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com