Thrift Store Fire “Suspicious

By Pat Peterson Reporter

News 5 source says fire that damaged Salvation Army Thrift Store in Foley could be arson Thrift Store Fire “Suspicious

Published: Wed, April 02, 2008 - 1:55 pm

Pat Peterson

Federal and state investigators were back out at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Foley Wednesday. The building has been roped off and will be closed indefinitely. A fire in the back of the building heavily damaged a storage room. The sales floor inside the thrift store, including thousands of dollars worth of clothes, merchandise and furniture, received major smoke damage.

"The building is going to have to be gutted," says Christina Watts with the Salvation Army. "I don't know whether it'd be worth it to go in and take the time to clean it all up. It's going to take a while to figure everything out and reopen."

A source who did not want to be identified tells News 5 the fire is suspicious. Fire investigators spent the day interviewing witnesses and store employees. Investigators also contacted news crews in our Baldwin County bureau. Our cameras were the first on the scene of the fire...just minutes after a storage room in the back of the thrift store went up in flames.

"It would be very disheartening to think that someone, for whatever reason, thought that setting a fire at an agency that's trying to help people including people devastated by fires was an appropriate way to handle a problem."

Thrift store customers and people who want to donate items will now have to go the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Mobile. The non-profit agency needs your help in rebuilding the Foley location. Log on to their website at www.salvationarmymobile.org.