North Fulton County

Customer's military-style round blamed for gun range fire

By Ashley Swann
By Ashley Swann

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Police say they will not pursue any criminal charges against a customer they say started a fire at a gun range.

The Sandy Springs Gun Club and Range was open Sunday when the fire started. The fire department believes a customer accidentally fired a tracer round which sparked the flames.

The owners said they're simply grateful everyone is OK.

"You never want a situation like this to happen, but the response we've gotten from the community has been absolutely overwhelming,” said the range’s owner.

The owners of the range are counting their blessings after the 2-alarm fire ripped through the facility's roof with customers and employees inside. %

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“Everybody was actually clear before our first arriving unit, so the employees did exactly what they should have done and had everybody out quickly,” Bernard said.

Sandy Springs Fire Rescue Inspector-Investigator Jesse Bernard said crews were also quick to extinguish the flames.

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They believe a customer accidentally fired a military-style tracer-round with a small pyrotechnic charge inside the range sparking the fire.

"It's actually against regulations. The gentleman that fired it didn't realize it was within his magazine and he notified them as soon as he realized he had fired it,” Bernard said.

Fortunately, Bernard said the fire was contained to the concrete-enclosed range far from any ammunition.

On Monday, crews worked throughout the day to fix the damage, which we're told is focused primarily in the ventilation system.

"Things happen, you don't want them to but we're going to pick up the pieces and we're going to be open sooner than you know,” the range’s owner said.

"It was a loss but we know that they took care of the people safely so we'll be able to come back and it will probably be even better than when we were last here,” said customer John Ellison.

Cox Media Group

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