GARDEN GROVE : Arson Is Blamed for Store Fire

A raging fire that destroyed a large Thrifty Drug Store and caused an estimated $2 million in damage was deliberately set inside the store, a Fire Department official said Wednesday. There were no injuries.

The fire, which required the efforts of nearly 50 firefighters and 12 pieces of equipment, damaged four adjoining small businesses.

No suspect has been identified, and the motive for the arson is unknown, the fire official said.

During the fire, aerosol cans exploded, leading to initial reports--later found to be false--that the explosions had set off the fire.

“The fire didn’t start by exploding hair spray cans. It was started by someone setting some paper goods on fire,” said Bill Dumas, a fire captain and arson investigator for the department.

The spectacular blaze, which broke out about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and continued burning until about 1 a.m. Wednesday, destroyed the Thrifty Drug Store at a shopping center at Katella Avenue and Euclid Street.

“The cause of the fire was arson,” Dumas said at the fire scene Wednesday. “It started in the area of the (hair spray cans), and it was the heat from the fire that made them explode. The paper goods were down low, and the cans were up high above them. We don’t have any suspects at the present time, but we’re working on some leads,” he said.

Dumas, in response to questions, said there is no indication that the arson is gang-related, although he noted that the area has a lot of gang activity. He also said that there were no juveniles in the drugstore at the time the blaze started and that investigators are not looking into any disgruntled or former employees.

“We think we know what happened, but I can’t go into it while the investigation is in progress,” Dumas said.

Dumas said a customer inside the drugstore first noticed the fire about 9:30 p.m. “He saw the fire in an overhead mirror--you know how these stores have mirrors that can view things back in the store,” Dumas said. “The man told the sales clerk, and she placed the alarm.”

Dumas and others at the fire scene on Wednesday morning said about four employees and five customers were in the store when the fire broke out.

“The employees attempted to contain and control the fire but were unsuccessful,” said Dumas. “When the Fire Department arrived, there was smoke showing out of the front of the building, and guys pulled up right in front. As soon as they got off the engine, the whole front of the building blew out--what we call a back-draft condition.”

On Wednesday morning, only the shell of the 10,000-square-foot stucco-and-tile building remained. The roof had caved in and burned. The interior of the store was heap of blackened rubble.

Richard Guest, owner of the nearby The Guest Gallery store, said he arrived at the scene about 10 p.m. Tuesday, at the height of the fire.

“It was a picture of hell, that’s what it was,” said Guest. “It was an inferno.”

Guest’s store sustained extensive smoke and water damage. He was carrying out damaged paintings on Wednesday morning.

“This is the second time I’ve had a fire damage my store,” he said. “There was a fire in my store about 15 years ago, and I had bad losses then, but this damage this time is worse.”

Dumas estimated total damage to the drugstore and adjacent stores at between $1.5 million and $2 million, of which $750,000 was in damaged merchandise and other contents.