The newest Goodwill store on the Grand Strand is still standing after a fire started inside Monday evening.
Monday night's fire at Goodwill destroyed 300 some donated men’s shirts. Luckily that's the worst of the damage.
Thom Wright, Vice President of Retail Operations said it looks like the fire started down by the floor and moved quickly upwards. Some paint on the wall and a few lights will need to be replaced.
When smoke began to poor into the store, Wright said his employees jumped into action.
"It's the most impressive part. The minute they saw the smoke, two of them grabbed fire extinguishers. Had the fire almost completely out by the time the fire department got here… The fire Marshall said if they hadn't responded as quickly as they had that there would have been nothing left today,” Wright said.
After things calmed down, Wright and police reviewed surveillance video. Horry County Fire Rescue official Todd Cartner would only say as of Tuesday afternoon, it's considered a suspicious fire. Wright said Goodwill officials believe its arson from what they saw on video.
Wright said they saw on the video two young people in the men’s shirt section when the fire started.
"It's very disheartening. You would like to think everybody would embrace what we try to do in the community… It just makes you wonder why somebody would want to really do anything like this,” Wright said.
Fortunately with all the donations the location receives, Wright said they'll be able to restock what was lost.
Goodwill officials reopened the Surfside Beach store doors at 2:00 Tuesday.
Goodwill is not releasing the surveillance video at this time.
So far there are no arrests in this case.
Count on News13 to bring you developments in the story when they become available.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement