Simi Valley : Fire Closes Market for Short Period

A Vons grocery store in Simi Valley had to close for a short time Friday night when a fire broke out in a back room, a Fire Department spokesman said.

Fire investigators were still investigating the cause of the fire Friday night. But Bob Lopinski, a store manager, said the fire was “a carbon copy of a fire we had about a month ago,” which he said was arson.

The earlier fire occurred June 3 on the store’s loading dock and storage area, a Fire Department dispatcher said.

The fire Friday night started at 8:13 p.m. in the store’s back storage area.

The store’s sprinkler system contained the fire by 8:43 p.m., Fire Department Dispatcher Cece Grives said.

Lopinski said he asked customers to leave the store shortly after the smoke detector sounded and reopened the store about 9:30 p.m.

The greatest damage to the back room was water damage from the sprinklers, a fire dispatcher said. The front of the store had no water or smoke damage, Lopinski said.