Other - Retail, Retail Half Moon Bay, CA – Overnight fire at hardware store contained by sprinkler system October 17, 2015 viking210 Hassett Hardware employees were alerted early this morning to a small fire at the Main Street business. It resulted in damaged special orders due to smoke and sprinkler system. “It was just a small fire in our receiving area,” said Hassett Hardware co-owner Eric Hassett. “The fire suppression system kicked in and prevented the spread fairly quickly.” The fire alarm went off after 1 a.m. and Hassett said they had an employee on the scene within 10 minutes. Firefighters showed up shortly after that. CalFire Battalion Chief David Cosgrave said firefighters were there until 5 a.m. to ensure the fire was out and to remove burned materials. The cause of the fire is still unknown at this point, Hassett said, but employees suspect an oil-stained rag that was in a melted trashcan could have been the culprit. The fire left no structural damage, Hassett said, and mostly affected customer special orders for items such as jackets and pants. The employees are going through the mess right now but, Hassett said the business is still operating as usual. “On the front end customers won’t notice,” Hassett said. “It smells a whole lot worse than it really was.”
