Vyto Starinskas / Staff Photo
Rutland City firefighters prepare to battle a fire in a garage that houses a gun shop behind a home on Elm Street in Rutland on Tuesday. Smoke could be seen and throughout the downtown area.
Fire crews are responding to a 3-alarm fire at a gun shop on Elm Street, and are using precautions because of the likelihood of ammunition stored in the shop.
Donna LaRose, who lives across the street, was alarmed to see the fire in the shed behind King’s house a little before 8 a.m.
“I see smoke, flames, shooting out over there,” she said. “I came out and screamed, ‘somebody call 9-1-1!’”
Other neighbors knocked on the door to the Kings to warn them, and multiple fire engines responded to the street and began to set up hoses with precautions taken because of the threat of ammo in the building.
According to Mayor Christopher Louras, who walked down to check on the fire, the precautions were part of a protocol followed by the fire department in these cases.
According to neighbors, King’s gun shop has been in business around 40 years; the owner, Gerald King, lives in the house adjacent to the shop, which is housed in a shed to the rear of the house. King is retired, but still does some work on guns.
