Fire under investigation
<p>Popcorn Theater Video was sufficiently burned after what is believed to be an incendiary device was placed in the store's drop box.</p>
HOT SPRINGS – A quiet summer night in Hot Springs was interrupted by the sounds of sirens and the response of fire engines as first responders extinguished a fire at a local business in town.
A fire engulfed the interior of Popcorn Theater Video, a movie rental store on Spring Street in Hot Springs, during the predawn hours of Friday, Aug. 15.
An incendiary device apparently started the fire with the blaze beginning at approximately 12:47 a.m. on Friday morning.
“It looks like an incendiary device placed in the night drop box started the fire,” Mayor Randy Woods of Hot Springs said.
Woods responded to the scene after the alarm system at the store was triggered and other members of the Hot Springs Fire Department joined him shortly thereafter.
The fire was quickly contained and extinguished by first responders.
According to Woods, the fire crew was able to put out the fire shortly after arriving and within ten minutes of reporting to the scene of the fire, the flames had been put out.
Despite the short length of the fire, the video store still experienced a substantial amount of damage with burn marks visible from the entrance of the boarded up structure.
“The fire was on the inside of the building so it got the ceiling and the interior walls,” Woods said.
The water used to extinguish the blaze also may have damaged the videos inside as well.
The Hot Springs Police Department is currently investigating the incident.