06 September 2023 , 08:17
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Shoppers have been forced to evacuate a Target shop - after a huge fire broke out in the children's clothing section.
Clothing went up in flames just after 7pm on Tuesday, September 5, at the Target in Buena Park, California. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, however, arson investigators have been called in to help.
Eyewitness video from inside the store shows the flames burning in a clothing rack, shooting up toward the ceiling before growing and spreading to other items. A store employee can be seen using a fire extinguisher to try and battle the flames.
Pieces of debris can also be seen flying in the air, though it's unclear whether this came from the clothing on fire or from the ceiling as the flames reached higher.
An employee grabbed a fire extinguisher and successfully managed to douse the flames with the help of the sprinkler system (cbsnews)Firefighters said a sprinkler system in place in the store was also activated. By the time Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) firefighters arrived on the scene the blaze had been extinguished. However, OCFA battalion chief Erik Miranda said the store was still filled with a smoky haze.
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Shoppers were evacuated quickly after the fire broke out. Guillermo Santander was at the store on Tuesday shopping with his daughter.
"We walked in the Target, we see a small flame," he recalled. "We thought it was a Halloween prop. But as we got closer, we heard a pop which was the sprinkler going off. All of a sudden the flame got bigger so I started recording. We walked around a couple of racks and we realised it was clothing that was on fire."
The fire was in a Target shop (Getty Images)No injuries were reported in the fire, but clothing items in the children's section were damaged by the fire and also water from the sprinkler system.
One shopper who filmed the fire said the building immediately filled with smoke. No eyewitnesses have yet come forward saying they saw anybody light the clothing on fire.
However, the blaze is being treated as suspicious. Firefighters arrived to find haze and smoke throughout the building after the Target employee managed to successfully douse the flames with a fire extinguisher.
It's not the first time a Target in California has had to battle a fire. On June 23, a Target in Sacramento saw a blaze erupt inside the store in what's been deemed a possible arson attack.
As a result, the store has been forced to close indefinitely. The fire is said to have broken out near the back of the store, by the makeup area. Parker Wilbourn, spokesperson for Sacramento fire, called the incident "organised crime" afterwards.
It's reportedly part of a shoplifting trend where a fire is set in order to distract employees with the culprits then able to walk out of the store with hundreds of dollars in merchandise. The trend is reportedly on the fire in Sacramento County, with incidents happening more frequently.
"This is organised crime. They have a premeditated plan: where they're going to go, how they're going to start the fire, and what they're going to take from the store," said Parker Wilbourn.
He added that Sacramento County is not the only area facing this "new wave" of crime. Often, the suspect will enter the store with a lighter and set of paper towels or toilet paper on fire, and the suspects will have a plan for where they will start the fire and what items they are after, according to Mr Wilbourn.
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