Fire strikes Grand Mart convenience store

Investigators with the Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office Tuesday were reviewing surveillance footage to determine the cause of a fire that broke out in a Vancouver convenience store overnight Monday.

Chris Moen, a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman, said the camera was aimed at the register area, where the fire was concentrated.

Firefighters were dispatched to the Grand Mart, 714 Grand Boulevard, at about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday. They arrived to find minimal smoke. “It was pretty light and nondescript,” Moen said.

The heavy smoke was waiting inside.

Crews used a circular saw to cut through a lock on the front door and watched black smoke tumble out.

Moen said the fire was contained to the register area. The blaze was under control at 1:48 a.m.

“There was hot smoke in there that melted some of the glass panels,” Moen said. “The glass was distorted.”

A damage estimate for the structure was not immediately available, but Moen said much of the convenience store’s contents, including furniture and food, were destroyed.

In total, 26 firefighters from the Vancouver Fire Department and Clark County Fire District 6 responded.