UPDATE: Walmart reopens following fire

Published 10:07 am Wednesday, June 20, 2018

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UPDATE: According to Greenville Walmart officials, the store reopened at 7 a.m., Thursday, June 21, after a fire Tuesday afternoon caused its closure this morning. It will close at 10 p.m. Shopping will be limited to groceries and pharmacy until further notice. Officials apologized for any inconvenience that the closure may have caused.

The Greenville Walmart Supercenter will be closed today due to an incident that occurred yesterday afternoon.

According to Greenville Police Chief Justin Lovvorn, 17-year-old Victor Ramos of Greenville lit a match and threw it into a shelf of pillows. The pillows began burning and the fire spread getting close to the ceiling above the area in the store where the pillows are located.

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Lovvorn said Walmart employees were able to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers before they called the Greenville Fire Department.

Ramos was arrested and transported to the Butler County Correctional Facility where he’s being held on $30,000 bond. He is being charged as an adult with 1st degree arson, a Class A felony.

A spokesperson with the Greenville Walmart did not give a time frame as to when the store would re-open, but its Facebook page said that it would be closed “until further notice.”

For more on this story, see Saturday’s edition of The Greenville Advocate.