A fire call at a Clinton grocery store Tuesday evening evacuated the store for a time while firefighters could diagnose the problem, which ultimately was found to be an air conditioning unit malfunction, and not a fire.

The Clinton Fire Department responded to a call of a commercial structure fire at 6:17 p.m. Tuesday. Many passersby saw fire trucks parked outside the Carlie C’s IGA store on College Street in Clinton and rumors began to circulate that a fire had occurred at the building.

Along with Clinton Fire Department, fire units with Taylors Bridge, Halls, Salemburg and Turkey provided mutual aid at the store. Soon after responding, Clinton fire officials found there was not a fire.

Clinton’s interim fire chief Austin Tew confirmed Wednesday morning that a faulty AC unit was to blame.

“It was really just a matter, once we realized it was a malfunction of the air conditioning unit, of ventilating and getting some air in there,” Tew stated. “The compressor froze up and the fan belt kept spinning and burned the belt.”

That caused some smoke to emanate from the attic area where the unit was located. As they were ventilating the business, customers were able to enter and exit the store as normal once the situation was deemed safe.

“Everything was good to go,” Tew said. “They were open for business not long after we responded.”

Fire units cleared the scene at 7:01 p.m., less than 45 minutes after the commercial fire call came in.

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By Chris Berendt

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