Fire Destroys Gas Station

, also know as Raj Convenient Mart, was destroyed by fire on Thursday night.

Jordan Fire Company Chief Tim Sullivan  said that dispatch received a report at 9:12 p.m. that the Exxon gas station, located at 76 Boston Post Road, was on fire. Jordan Fire Company, as well as trucks from the other fire companies, responded.

Fire was burning out two windows, Sullivan said. Firefighters directed the fire away from a propane tank storage area at the gas station, managed to break the door down and then knocked the fire out within 10 minutes of arrival, Sullivan said.

“It worked like clockwork,” Sullivan said. “All the training, all the work we do all paid off.”

If the fire had spread too close to the propane tanks, it would have represented a “significant hazard,” Sullivan said. The fire was far away from reaching any of the gas station's gasoline lines.

Once the fire was put out, firefighters began searching the building for people. Nobody was found, Sullivan said.

The owner, who is from Branford, was called, Sullivan said. The inside of the gas station was “destroyed,” Sullivan said. The cause of the fire was being determined by the fire marshal's office, and no determination had yet been made, he said.

Outage

At approximately 6 p.m., Boston Post Road, from its intersection at Rt. 156 to the New London border, completely lost power. At the time of the fire, BestWay Gas Station had no power. It was not yet known if the power outage had anything to do with the fire, Sullivan said.

As late as 10 p.m., power on that part of the street remained out, even to the traffic lights.

All restaurants and businesses had no power on the section of the road, and ran on generators, if they were open at all. At Supreme Pizza, for example, a generator was running the ovens as customers were still being served, despite sitting in the dark.

A fallen tree had closed Niantic River Road, Police Sgt. James Dimmock said. Also, a fallen tree closed part of Route 32 in New London, right near the Quaker Hill border, Dimmock said.

As of 10:40 p.m. Thursday, 2,400 people in Waterford were without power, or 25 percent of Waterford households, according to Connecticut Light & Power. Town Hall had no power Thursday night.

Daisy Party Ruined

East Lyme Daisy Troop 63099 planned on throwing its last party of the year at Family Bowl Thursday evening. But when the troop got there, the bowling alley was dark after the power went out.

The parents knew something was wrong when the traffic lights were out at the intersection of Rt. 156 and Boston Post Road, parent Veronica Chambers said. This caused some trepidation, she said.

“I stopped (at the light) just to make sure,” Chambers said. “I didn’t want to get creamed from somebody who didn’t know.”

However, despite the dark building, the staff was still very accommodating, parent Linda Farragher said. Their pizza was still delivered from Waterford Pizza, and they ate by candlelight, she said.

“We were very appreciative about how they treated us,” Farragher said. “They waited with us for an hour even after the power was out.”