Gary & Leo's reopens this morning after fire shutdown

Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods opened for business again this morning after an electrical fire shut down the grocery store Wednesday afternoon.

"We are up and running," co-owner and general manager Tracy Job said this morning.

He said the store had to stay closed through the evening and night becuase they had some problems getting the refrigeration back up in time.

"It could have been much worse," Job added.

He said the fire started in an outside compressor, and put out a lot of smoke, which ended up going through a conduit to the back part of the store

The fire started about 2 p.m., leading to the store's temporary closure, Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson said Wednesday, adding that the fire was rather small and that the problem was contained quickly.

"It looks like a compressor building on the south side of IGA," he said. "It appears they had some sort of a short in there and it caused some heat. A little bit of flame went up and caught the ceiling tiles on fire and melted down some of the plastics in there.

"We were there and had it under control in about five minutes," he added.

Multiple electricians were on the scene before 4 p.m. to help fix damage caused by the fire and to get the store up and running.

In response to the fire, workers at BNSF Railway bought out all of the hot food from the deli counter on the north side of the building so that it didn't go to waste.

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Havre Daily News Managing editor Tim Leeds contributed to this report.