By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A somewhat suspicious fire that destroyed a former gift shop in Randle has been handed over to the sheriff’s office to investigate.
The small wood-sided building on the 9700 block of U.S. Highway 12 was reported ablaze by a passerby about 2:30 a.m. on June 13, according to fire investigator Ted McCarty. An adjacent one-time beauty salon got scorched and sustained some smoke damage, McCarty said.
The former gift shop, which was assessed at $25,000, was a total loss, McCarty said this morning.
“It had been vacant for quite awhile, and it still had power, but the owner had shut all the breakers off before he left a couple months ago,” McCarty said. “That made it a little suspicious.”
The fire investigator said he just couldn’t pinpoint a cause and gave some leads to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office to follow up on.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter