EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The El Paso Fire Marshal’s Office provided an update Tuesday morning, Nov. 12, after a Downtown El Paso business caught fire this past weekend, saying the fire started inside a storage shed located behind the business.
The El Paso Fire Department responded to the fire at about 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, in the alleyway near 511 S. Stanton St.
The Fire Marshal’s Office says the cause of the fire was due to energized electric wires that were in contact with the roof of the shed, which caused the ignition of the roof.
The electricity to the business was removed by El Paso Electric due to the electrical lines being damaged, according to the Fire Marshal’s Office.
“Investigators contacted the Building Permitting and Inspections Department, which will forward the information to the proper authorities regarding the status and safety of the structure,” the Fire Marshal’s Office said.
As we have previously reported, the business is dealing with what it says is thousands of dollars of lost merchandise, and Grace Hong, daughter of the owners of Grace Trading, says her parents have owned the store for over 20 years.
Hong said that she and her family were not notified about the fire until they came to work on Monday morning.
“This is a huge detriment to the business as as we’re preparing for the holiday season. This is the busiest time of year for most businesses here in El Paso, and our employees worked really hard to prepare for the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holiday,” Hong said.
Hong said the storage unit in the back of the store, full of new merchandise, was destroyed in the fire.
“All of this is over $50,000 worth of damages, merchandise that we’ve been storing and collecting over the past couple of months in preparation to sell,” she said
The owners of Grace Trading said they are closing the store for a few days. The Hong family has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to help recover what they have lost.
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