No one was injured in a Thursday afternoon fire at a Warsaw eye care facility where foul play is suspected.
At 3:32 p.m. Thursday, the Warsaw Fire Department was dispatched to The Spectacle Shoppe at 2314 Dubois Drive.
"Well, we didn't hear anything or smell anything," Spectacle Shoppe co-owner Shelly Aker said. "I happened to walk outside and saw a bush on fire. We tried to get our hose untangled to put it out, but we couldn't ... It spread really fast so we just got everyone out."
"I was in the middle of an eye examination when Shelly came in and told us there was a fire," said Dr. Jason Rich, a co-owner and optometrist at The Spectacle Shoppe.
Rich said there were two customers and six employees inside the building at the time of the blaze.
The fire started at the southeast corner of the building.
High winds caused the fire to spread quickly.
According to Rich, the fire spread to the entire building in three minutes.
The winds, along with heat, also complicated things for the firemen working the scene.
"It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get the fire under control," said Warsaw Fire Chief Mike Rice. "(The wind) contributed significantly to the spread of the fire. The heat didn't help matters. Normally we run 15 to 20 minutes. Yesterday, we ran our guys 5 to 6 minutes because they were so dehydrated."
According to witnesses at the scene, there were juveniles acting suspicious around the building prior to the fire.
Witnesses also reported a "loud boom" type of noise, resembling fireworks, was heard.
The Spectacle Shoppe is located next to a BP gas station. As soon as everyone was out of the building, Spectacle Shoppe employees went to the gas station and had the BP turn off its gas tanks.
Rich, Aker and Jason Stahly purchased the business in April 2005.
Winona Lake, Pierceton, Leesburg, Atwood and Claypool fire departments assisted at the scene.
