Conway store catches fire after car crashes into it

Standing barefoot in his parking lot, Larry Sanders watched firefighters tear into the roof of his convenience store.

A smoldering Honda sat below them, unmoved since crashing into the back corner of the Food Shop Sanders runs with his brother, Jimmy.

“When it rains, it pours,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

The 66-year-old would know. His home has been accessible only by boat since the Waccamaw River moved into his game room earlier this week. His brother’s house is also flooded.

Then came Wednesday’s fire at the store, which Larry Sanders has managed for 25 years. Around 2 p.m., he was working down the street at a vape store he owns when he got a call about a car crashing into the Food Shop, which sits on U.S. 501 Business across from Oliver’s Restaurant.

“Somebody said he was at Pump 5 and he took off from Pump 5 and it was on fire,” Sanders said. “He was trying to get away from the store.”

Blake Feagin was heading to a job interview when he decided to stop by the Food Shop for fuel. Although he lives in Myrtle Beach, the 24-year-old volunteer firefighter was born and raised in Conway and knows the Sanders brothers. He visits the store when he’s in town.

As soon as Feagin parked, the car began to fill with smoke. He jumped out of the sedan, looked underneath the vehicle and saw flames lashing. He yelled for a fire extinguisher, but realized there was no time to retrieve one.

“My training from Horry County Fire [Rescue] kind of kicked in,” he said.

Knowing a fire at a gas pump could be disastrous, Feagin got back in and steered toward a side street. Then his brakes failed. He was heading toward traffic.

“There were people up here and I didn’t want them to get hurt,” he said. “Before I knew it, I was in the building.”

The flames spread from the Honda to the back corner of the building and then to a small camper parked near the store, said Assistant Chief Justin Gibbins of Horry County Fire Rescue. The car and camper were destroyed, but most of the building was spared.

Because firefighters pumped water from a hydrant across the street, they had to shut down 501 Business for part of the afternoon. More than two dozen firefighters from the county and the city of Conway helped extinguish the blaze.

“I’m just happy that the pumps didn’t catch on fire,” Feagin said. “Nobody got hurt.”

As for what caused the fire, Gibbins said Feagin has been driving through flooded streets after the recent storms and that may have sparked the fire. A few days ago, Feagin was moving sandbags as part of the department’s response.

“We’ll actually probably see an increase in automobile fires,” Gibbins said.

Feagin said he’s not sure what ignited his car. He’s just grateful the situation wasn’t worse. He’s also thankful for his training. He’s been a volunteer firefighter for about seven months and plans to apply for a full-time job soon.

“Given the circumstances, I’m doing fairly well I guess,” he said. “I’m alive.”

Larry Sanders also kept some optimism Wednesday. After the flood at his house, the flood at his brother’s house and the fire at their store, his sense of humor couldn’t be drowned or torched.

“With all this happening, we’re due for some good luck,” he said. “I’m taking some lottery tickets home when I leave.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2015 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Conway store catches fire after car crashes into it."