Sirens blared and fire trucks raced down Gaston and Abrams around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, all winding up in the Lakewood Shopping Center parking lot at the intersection’s northwest corner. The source was Scalini’s, where smoke was emerging from the roof and perfuming the air.
Scalini’s patrons stood outside seeming nonplussed; apparently the smell had been slowly building over time and no flames were evident. The culprit turned out to be a locked fan motor that was trapping the smoke instead of letting it escape outdoors, which firefighters climbed a ladder to remedy. The six trucks that had arrived left the scene one by one after the source was determined; a firefighter told us that any 911 call about a fire automatically summons several trucks until the cause and needed help is determined.
