No one was injured when a fire destroyed a plumbing and heating store on Sugarwood Hill Road on Wednesday, according to the city’s fire department.
Chris Clark, Rutland Town fire chief, said firefighters were called to McLaughlin and Son Plumbing and Heating Shop at 2:30 p.m. because of a structural fire.
“When we got here, there was a fire in his plumbing shop that is out again. He owns a house at the front that hasn’t been damaged, ”said Clark.
According to Clark, the company is owned by Pat McLaughlin. The firefighters were told that the apartment building was also on fire, but that turned out not to be the case.
Clark said the flames were under control in about an hour.
“It’s a total loss,” he said. “It’s a metal building and we’re in the process of dismantling what’s left of it with an excavator.”
From 4:30 p.m. firefighters were still on site
Clark said the fire is not considered suspicious, but the cause has yet to be determined. He hadn’t spoken to McLaughlin when he spoke to the Herald.
Fire departments from Rutland Town, Pittsford, Proctor, Chittenden, West Rutland, Brandon, Clarendon and Ira responded along with the Rutland Town police who directed traffic and the local ambulance.
Rutland Herald photographer Hannah Dicton was near the fire when it started.
“I went outside and suddenly the sky was filled with black smoke and the flames were getting terribly near the trees near my house,” she said.
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