Light fixture shorts out, causes fire

Staff Reports

July 22, 2008 11:11 pm

— MOULTRIE — Visitors to the Wal-Mart Garden Center early Monday morning got an unexpected light show as a fluorescent light fixture shorted out.
The Moultrie Fire Department was called to the Wal-Mart Garden Center at 1:07 a.m. Monday. When firefighters arrived, they found a fluorescent light fixture had shorted out and caught fire.
The fire spread to potted plants that were on plastic plant stands that were underneath the light fixture. A fire alarm sounded when a nearby sprinkler discharged, and employees were able to extinguish the fire using a garden hose.
There was damage to the plants, the plastic stands, a trash can and a plastic canopy from the fire. The canopy had a hole about seven feet wide burned into it from the fire, but no one was injured. Firefighters helped the garden center manager install a new sprinkler head to replace the one that had discharged.