# Early-morning blaze destroys Route 1 sex shop



## DeputyFife (Jun 28, 2005)

Early-morning blaze destroys Route 1 sex shop 







 By Jill Harmacinski 
_Staff writer _

writePage("PEABODY - A police officer spent last night standing guard outside the scorched Amazing Superstore, an adult sex toy and video emporium destroyed by a fast-moving fire early yesterday morning.

Deputy Fire Chief James Coughlin said the officer was posted outside the Route 1 south building as a safety precaution and to keep curious onlookers and souvenir seekers away from the charred shell of the store, engulfed in flames at 3:50 a.m yesterday.

"Way too many gawkers were coming by," Coughlin said.

The cause of the three-alarm fire remains under investigation by both local police and fire investigators, as well as state troopers assigned to the State Fire Marshal's Office.

Fire also destroyed an Amazing Superstore in Reading a week ago but the two blazes are not connected, said Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan. The cause of the Reading blaze was accidental, likely sparked by an electrical problem, Mieth said.

In Peabody, after a fire alarm tripped, crews arrived to find flames shooting 20 feet into the air and "very fast-advancing fire" engulfing the store. As the fire quickly consumed the 50-by-40-foot store and its contents, the metal roof above it collapsed, Coughlin said.

Crews from Peabody, with help from firefighters from four nearby communities, tried to keep the blaze from extending to the adjacent Misono steakhouse and sushi restaurant and a billiard parlor, he said. Firefighters drenched the store with water, after stretching about 2,000 feet of fire hose up and down the highway to the closest hydrants.

"We just overwhelmed it with a lot of water," said Coughlin. For safety reasons, firefighters did not enter the store to fight the blaze, instead attacking it from "defensive mode" on the outside.

"There was no interior firefighting," Coughlin said. "Absolutely not."

The bulk of the fire was extinguished by 6 a.m. and yellow crime scene tape was stretched across the front of the gutted building. The store was closed when the fire broke out. No injuries were reported, Coughlin said.

The $2.1 million building, which sits on 1.1 acres, is owned by Castle Properties of Cranston, R.I., according to online city assessment records. No representative for Castle Properties could be reached for comment last night.

Firefighters from Middleton, Lynnfield, North Reading and Lynn assisted Peabody at the fire yesterday morning while crews from Lynn and Danvers covered city stations.

_Staff reporter Jill Harmacinski can be reached at (97 338-2652 or by email at [email protected]._


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## English Bobby (May 25, 2003)

Electrical problem ??
If that was the cause of the fire, what appliance was it running, i have got an awful thought bubble !!


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## stm4710 (Jul 6, 2004)

the humanity......


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## 94c (Oct 21, 2005)

there goes my christmas gift card......


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## laxball33 (Mar 23, 2004)

If I had been there I would have burst into the burning building acting like I was looking for someone inside and come out with an armful of porn. I can just see it now, me on the front page of the herald looking like a kid on Chirstmas Day with 20 porn dvds in my arms.


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## Cinderella (Jun 17, 2005)

USMCMP5811 said:


> Cindy, I told you, you were going to hurt sombody with that thing! :jump:


*LMAO Ken!! i couldn't help it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!:$ *


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## VTCOP (May 2, 2002)

buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


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## Cinderella (Jun 17, 2005)

ohhhhhhhh lol


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