San Bernardino County fire crews responded early Thursday to a fire at the historic Harris building after it caught fire for the second time in the last few months.
Fire personnel arrived at the scene to find flames coming from the roof of the boarded-up former department store located behind a gas station near 3rd Street and North E Street, according to a Facebook post by the department.
The historic building used to be home to the Harris department store, which opened in 1927. Philip and Herman Harris, two of the three brothers involved with the business, opened the building to the public years earlier as a dry goods business.
Witnesses outside of the building told fire personnel that there were people trapped inside. One woman was found in an elevator shaft in the building’s basement. She was asleep when the fire started, according to San Bernardino County fire spokesman Eric Sherwin. She was escorted to safety without any injuries.
Building damage sustained in a fire in July created obstacles for crew members so they called for more help. A total of 70 fire personnel arrived on the scene, and took control of the fire two hours after the initial team arrived, according to the county’s fire agency.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, though it appears to be human-made, according to Sherwin.
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