ST. ALBANS, W.Va. — Two men were arrested and charged with breaking and entering the Dollar General Store in St. Albans after it was damaged in a fire Thursday night.
Russell Wartenburg, 23, of St. Albans and Jeremy Jeffers, 22, of Hometown, were arraigned Friday in Kanawha County Magistrate Court. They were taken to the South Central Regional Jail on a $25,000 bond.
Police said a rear door of the store was found to have been forced open. The suspects allegedly fled out of a side door while the store was being checked.
The blaze broke out in the building near the intersection of U.S. Route 60 and C Street at just before 5 p.m. Thursday.
Flames and smoke were showing when fire crews arrived on the scene.
Kanawha County fire coordinator C.W. Sigman said, thankfully, no one was hurt.
“Employees were awake and conscious, not asleep or anything like that. They were able to get out of the store no problem,” he said.
Sigman said one worker started smelling smoke that fire crews believe originated in the back room. He said the fire was contained to a relatively small area.
“The whole store was smokey, but the fire seemed to be in the back of the building,” he said. “They got access to it pretty quick and actually got water on the fire fairly fast which kind of kept it in check.”
The store sustained heat damage, but is not expected to collapse, Sigman said.
The St. Albans Fire Department is handling the investigation. Many other local fire and police departments also helped respond to the blaze.
“It could’ve been a whole lot worse had they not got on it as fast as they did,” Sigman said.