Fire Destroys Store, Damages Red Cross

Fire destroyed a furniture store and severely damaged a local Red Cross office Friday afternoon on the city’s main thoroughfare.

Firefighters worked to keep the blaze from spreading to an adjacent sporting goods store.

City officials said the fire began at about 4:15 p.m. on the roof of the local Red Cross building before spreading to Phyl’s Furniture next door. A sporting goods store occupies the building on the other side of the furniture store, and firefighters were working to keep the fire out of the sporting goods store.

Initial reports indicated the Red Cross had lost all of the disaster supplies it had stored on the second floor of its building.