St. Augustine Wal Mart Evacuated

Firefighters Search For Smoke Inside The Store

St. Augustine, Fl – An employee of Wal Mart on US 1 South in St. Augustine smelled smoke in the pharmacy, bringing fire units to the store with a full structure fire assignment. The building was evacuated and everyone was moved to the end of the parking lot nearest US 1 while firefighters searched the building for a source.

Firefighters laddered the roof and began checking air conditioning units and electrical sources within the store while employees and customers alike stood in the hot afternoon sun waiting to enter the building again. Most of the customers left the property and deputies from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s office closed the entrances to the parking area.

During the course of the incident, I ventured into the parking lot about halfway between the building and US 1 and spent ten minutes shooting images of the incident. As a former firefighter and credentialed member of the local media, I have never been told I was too close to an incident. I have been asked to make sure I did not get in the way by police officers, but today I was approached by an Asset Protection employee who informed me that the “…building might blow up.” He then told me to stay out on US 1.

After a lot of discussion, I decided I would stand off the property line with a 300 mm lens and shoot from there. Wal Mart at its finest.

Needless to say, Wal Mart did not blow up. There were no injuries reported during the incident and firefighters believe the source of the smoke to be from electrical equipment inside the store. An electrician was called to remedy the issue as firefighters cleared the scene.

Thank you, Wal Mart, for protecting me from blowing up…or maybe, good job denying the press access to an incident and covering your own ASSets!!

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