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Last updated on Friday, October 17, 2014
(BEECH GROVE) - Fire crews worked for over two hours to extinguish a fire Thursday at a gun store and firing range in Beech Grove.
Captain Rita Reith (RITE) says firefighters were called to Beech Grove Firearms in the 3000 block of South Emerson Avenue shortly before 4:00 and found heavy black smoke coming from the building.
The owner of the store, Greg Burge, told firefighters there is about 78-thousand pounds of shredded tire used as a backstop in the firing range which Reith says contributed to the black smoke.
Burge, who is also a 20-year veteran of IMPD, believes one of the patrons in the firing range may have used a "tracer" bullet which smoldered in the rubber and eventually caught fire. He said the bullet may have been fired Wednesday or Thursday but he wasn't sure if that was, in fact, what happened.
The fire was reported to Burge by a patron inside the firing range and everyone evacuated safely. No injuries were reported to patrons, employees or firefighters. Damage to the building was estimated at two-million dollars.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation by IFD and IMPD. The regional ATF is assisting in the investigation which is standard procedure for a gun store fire.
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