SALLISAW, Okla. (KFSM) — Around 10:30 p.m. Monday (Aug. 26) night firefighters were called to a shopping center on west Cherokee for a fire.
The Sallisaw Fire Department says the fire started from the air conditioning unit at the consignment store and quickly spread in the attic in both directions to the surrounding businesses.
“It was a pretty big shock. I mean everything I own was in there. My whole life is tied up in it,” said Clinton Johnson, co-owner of Top Shelf Medicinals.
Johnson says they were luckily able to get 90% of their product out before the fire got to their unit.
“The building is totaled. There is no ceiling, the wall is torn out, water damage. It will take a while to fix it," Johnson said. "The structural damage ain’t bad on the building, it’s mainly the superficial stuff, but it’s still got a while to go."
Johnson says he’s thankful for customers who were at the shop at 7:00 a.m. this morning, ready to help.
Randall Lambert was one of those customers.
“I just love the place, they are real great people. Everyone of these people are really great people, that’s why I’m here,” Lambert said.
Lambert says Top Shelf Medicinal is very important to him because before it opened, he was on morphine for a decade and medical marijuana has helped him get off the drug.
“To me, that’s a big step in my life, I’m going to cry here because it’s a testimonial to my life right now and times are tough and I love this place, it’s got to reopen,” Lambert said.
The dispensary says it is working with its investors to hopefully reopen quickly in a building behind the shopping center.
The Sallisaw Fire Department says it took about three hours to put out the fire and no one was injured.