Cleaners Fire Leads To RivCo Strip Mall Evacuation

RIVERSIDE, CA — A fire that erupted Wednesday in a boiler at a cleaners on the south end of Riverside damaged the business and caused some collateral impacts to surrounding merchants within the strip mall, but no one was injured.

The blaze was reported about 10:25 a.m. on the west side of the strip mall at the intersection of East Alessandro Boulevard and Barton Street, according to the Riverside Fire Department.

Responding crews encountered flames in an industrial-sized boiler at the back of the cleaning business.

Firefighters "rapidly put out" the blaze, Battalion Chief Brian Guzetta told City News Service.

However, the emergency sprinkler system inside the cleaners caused water flows into adjacent businesses, all of which were evacuated.

Guzetta said electricity and water supplies for the entire strip mall were shut down as a precaution.

By 11:30 a.m., the location was secure, though none of the businesses had reopened.

Riverside County Department of Environmental Health inspectors were summoned to determine whether any health hazards were present in eateries within the strip mall stemming from the fire, smoke and water impacts.

It was not immediately clear what caused the boiler to malfunction.