A Lawrenceville gun range suffered significant damage Saturday morning after a fire broke out inside the business.
Firefighters were called to Bull's Eye Indoor Range and Gun Shop on West Crogan Street at 10:18 a.m., but Donald Strother with the Gwinnett County Department of Fire and Emergency Services says crews could see the severity of the fire before they even arrived on scene.
"As crews left their fire station they could see a heavy column of smoke rising towards the skyline," he explained. "Upon their arrival, fire personnel found a two-story commercial structure with heavy brown smoke pushing horizontally and vertically out of the front door."
Crews arrived at the scene to learn that the business had been safely evacuated shortly after the fire broke out, and began making their approach through the front entrance.
"Combining the use of a thermal imaging camera and information obtained from pre-incident building planning, fire crews were able to overcome the challenges that zero visibility and an unconventional floor plan presented."
Officials on scene determined that material inside the building, such as steel-plated ceilings and rubber back walls, were likely to be trapping a high amount of heat inside, and that the situation created the potential for a HAZMAT incident.
Strother said that, fortunately, that never came to pass.
"Crews were able to confine the blaze to the left-rear side of the building. But due to the size of the building and the location of the flames, a second water source needed to be obtained," he continued. "This second water supply allowed additional crews to fight the fire from the exterior at the back of the structure."
Firefighters also elected to ventilate the roof of the business, using a "K-12 Fire Rescue Saw and a chainsaw" to cut open a few select portions of the roof.
These efforts allowed crews to make relatively quick work of the fire, with Strother reporting that it was extinguished in under an hour.
While the retail portion of the business was unaffected, Strother said the entire range, which consisted of a range designated for guns, and a range used for rifles, suffered significant fire and smoke damage.
Investigators soon learned that the fire broke out after tracer rounds were used in the rifle range, and the situation was deemed to be fully under control by 12:24 p.m.
No injuries were reported.
