Fire tears through building

Convenient Food Store at 39th and Walnut street gutted A raging fire tore through the Convenient Food Store in the 3900 block of Walnut Street early Saturday morning. The fire completely gutted the convenience store, leaving only a charred exterior structure and damage to nearby stores. As of yet, the Philadelphia Fire Department still has not determined the cause of the fire, which began shortly before 4 a.m. Although the store was closed at the time of the fire, there were several people in the area, and many witnesses on the scene reported hearing explosive sounds coming from the store. Drexel University junior Chad Glover said he was in Kinko's Copies -- which is adjacent to the Convenient Food Store -- when he heard a series of noises and ran outside to see what had happened. "It sounded like a whole bunch of bottles and cans jumping out of the window," Glover said. "It started real small and kind of blew up, and the whole thing ignited and came rushing out the windows." Glover said the fire blew through the front windows of the Convenient Food Store within seconds of the first flames. Glover then went back into Kinko's to alert the late-night employee to the fire next door. Philadelphia Firefighter Scott Ulshafer said the fire spread unusually fast. "It's not a normal fire," Ulshafer said. "This took off too quick." Many students in High Rise North said they could smell the fire from the building. Wharton senior Jim Maceiko said his friends thought someone was burning something in the hall, or had burned food in the microwave. College junior Chris Nelson said he heard noise coming from outside his room. "There was a crash before the flames," Nelson said. "I thought a car blew up." Initially, the police responded to the store after a reported burglar alarm in the store, but upon arriving found the store in flames. Police radioed the fire department which dispatched three fire engines, two ladder trucks, a rescue unit and an ambulance to the scene. Firefighters spent nearly three hours extinguishing the fire while Philadelphia and University Police sealed off Walnut Street from 39th to 40th streets. And although the fire did not spread from the Convenient Food Store, Mega Video, College Pizza and Baskin Robbins did receive smoke and water damage. The Convenient Food Store's neighbor, Kinko's Copies, was left unscathed due, in part, to a firewall separating the two stores. Sam Patel, owner of Convenient Food Store, said he was disturbed by the sight of his charred store. He added that he was upset to see his hard work go up in flames after opening the store in September. "After seeing this, I don't know what I'm going to do," Patel said. "I put myself out and worked hard to build the store. "This is the first time I've seen a store burnt like this in my life," he added. "It's like losing a son -- a part of your life." Patel said he has several other stores in Center City Philadelphia, and is planning to open another store in March. He added that he hopes to rebuild the Walnut Street store, but was unsure of a timetable. Vaughn Barnes, of University City Associates -- the subsidiary corporation of the University that owns property in the area -- said he estimated the damage to the Convenient Food Store to be between $500,000 and $1 million. Charles Thomas, an employee of UCA, said the store could be rebuilt by the summer. "We'll salvage anything that can be salvaged," he said. "The basic structure is still there." Firefighters from the station at 43rd and Market streets were driving near the scene when the fire broke and arrived within seconds. The fire was under control by 4:55 a.m., according to a Philadelphia Fire official. To alleviate the intense heat and smoke, the firefighters had to cut holes in the roof of the building. They also broke through the front windows of Mega Video and a small section of the wall, along with the doors of College Pizza, Baskin Robbins and the former AMC movie theater. Philadelphia Fire Department Lieutenant Robert Buckley said that all of these stores sustained smoke damage. Orest Hrabowy, manager of Mega Video, said extensive damage was done to the store. He added that the store will be closed for at least a week to restore the video stock, get the computer system functioning and clean-up the water damage. Eric Yates, owner of the Baskin Robbins ice cream shop, said there was slight damage to the ventilation system and ceiling, but he would be back in business by today. "I was lucky," Yates added. Over the weekend, work crews boarded up the Convenient Food Store in addition to much of Mega Video. A fire marshall is expected to survey the remains of the store tomorrow to try to determine the cause of the fire.

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