by Alex Lloyd Gross
A small fire in a store at the Franklin Mall ( formerly Franklin Mills) has caused the mall to be closed to do a problem with the smoke evacuating system, officials said. A fire did some damage to a store near the Wal-Mart in the mall. There were no injuries. However, the fire brought to attention the problem with the alarm/ suppression system. The mall was ordered closed. It took about 45 minutes to evacuate people.
Wal-Mart, Marshalls and Dave and Busters can stay open as long as the store closes the mall entrance. Everything else is off limits. The dentist office, kiosks and any other stores cannot be accessed. The doors to the mall are locked and there are signs on the glass.
It is unknown when the mall will reopen. It will not be tomorrow and with a blizzard happening, the problem is not going to be fixed by Monday, either. The mall has 30 days to fix the issue. The best people can hope for is a quick repair later in the week but that is not guaranteed.
Fast food stores around the mall are unaffected. The Burlington store in the mall has gone out of business. If you work at the mall or plan to shop there, your best bet is to call before you go.