Firefighters Respond to Fire Sunday at Fair Oaks Mall

Firefighters from the Fairfax County Fire Department responded to a fire at Fair Oaks Mall on Sunday, according to information posted on their Facebook page on Sunday. Here’s their report:

This morning at 10:18 am Fairfax County Fire and Rescue units from the third battalion were dispatched to the Fair Oaks Mall located at 12000 Fair Oaks Shopping Center for a reported fire in a hydraulic trash compacter attached to the Sears store.

First arriving units had smoke coming from the compacter adjacent to the Sears auto center and requested a RIT level 1, which brought a total of 54 firefighters to the scene. An aggressive attack on the fire in the trash compacter coincided with a search and evacuation of the entire Sears store which involved about 75-100 customers and employees. Smoke conditions existed in the main store and crews extinguished the fire and worked on clearing the store of smoke within 10 minutes.

Crews embarked on an extensive overhaul operation to clear the trash compacter and remove smoke from the Sears store. One civilian was treated for smoke inhalation on the scene and released. No injuries were reported to firefighters. Damage was limited to the trash compacter which is valued at approximately $5,000.

The cause of the fire was accidental.