Firefighters were able to respond to a structure fire early thanks to a bystander who reported smoke coming out of a pool supply store in San Luis Obispo Saturday morning.
Fire officials say around 8:08 a.m., the bystander reported light smoke coming out of the corner of the store located at the intersection of South Avenue and Beebee Street.
Upon investigation, firefighters found a light fire coming from the business' storage shed.
According to fire officials, the heavy smoke spread throughout the business, causing total damage to the shed and killing the owner's two pet cats that were in the business area.
Officials thanked the bystander who noticed the smoke and called 911 immediately.
"Someone saw something and said something by calling 911. We're able to get here early and make an aggressive attack on the corner of that building rather than having the fire spread throughout the building," Ray Hais, San Luis Obispo City Fire Battalion Cheif said.
Hais added that one of their primary concern was minimizing fire exposure to hazardous chemicals, such as pool chlorine and acids.
Two hazmat specialists were on the scene to make sure everything was clean and there was not any runoff.
Firefighters were also seen spraying off their gear to clean off any chemicals that could be on their equipment.
