Port Charlotte Batteries Plus store bursts into flames

A Port Charlotte Batteries Plus store went up in flames on Tuesday afternoon. According to a Gulf Coast News crew at the scene, the store, located in the Murdock Plaza at 1690 South Tamiami Trail, caught fire Tuesday after 1 p.m. Video from the scene shows flames coming through the roof of the business and heavy smoke. Charlotte County Fire and EMS officials confirmed the fire has been contained, but firefighters remain on the scene. A hole in the roof at the back of the building marks the area where the majority of the damage occurred, as this is where the batteries were stored. Chief Deputy Brian Carr of Charlotte County Fire and EMS said, "So our units got on scene within, I believe, three and a half minutes. Crews did an excellent job, made access to the structure, made sure they did a complete search, made sure everybody was out and was able to start putting water on fire." Carr confirmed that everyone inside the building made it out safely, and no injuries were reported among occupants or firefighters. "We've got no injuries of any personnel that were in the building, occupying the building, before we got on scene and none of our firefighters are injured at this time," Carr said. Carr also noted that battery safety had been a topic of discussion earlier in the day during a county commissioners meeting. "So even this morning, there's a proclamation of fire prevention and lithium battery safety was a discussion of topic at our board meeting this morning," Carr said. "So this is, ironically enough, happening at the same time. But lithium batteries, it's very important that when you're away from the home and you're not paying attention, they need to be unplugged from the charger and using the UL-listed chargers for those things to make sure that you have appropriate fire safety in place at the house." Crews are still investigating the cause of the fire. DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.