Laundromat fire causes some people to change their weekly routines

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – A Starkville mainstay suffered heavy damage over the weekend.

The Starkville Fire department responded to a structure on University Drive fire early Sunday morning.

And that fire is causing some people to change their weekly routines.

While it may not be a true “landmark”, The University Laundromat in the Cotton District has been a staple for college students and longtime residents alike.

Several cars slowed down and even made U-turns along University Drive because these boarded-up windows meant they were going to have to go somewhere else to do their laundry.

“No, it’s going to be a while before any washing. It did damage to the top of the building and pretty much destroyed a lot of machines in there; it’s a lot of heavy damage in there,” Starkville Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough said.

Even though University Laundromat is one of the few 24-hour laundromats in Starkville, and it is known to be busy at odd hours, Yarbrough said there were no injuries from Sunday morning’s fire.

But he does remind everyone to check those dryers, and what they put into them.

“We have video evidence showing one of the dryers started burning that started the entire, causing the fire to start, ” Yarbrough said.

“In this case, I think it probably had something to do with maybe oily rags, so if you have oily rags, even though you wash them if the oil residue is still on there and mix that with heat then you still can have a fire-like this,” Yarbrough said.

One area resident, who didn’t want to reveal her identity, said this fire isn’t shocking to her.

“I am not surprised that this really happened because people don’t clean out their lint; they act careless. That’s just how people are, and from the looks of it, when I drove past it, people were just all outside, not really paying attention,” she said.

The University Laundromat is connected to Bulldog Burgers.

But the restaurant did not suffer any damage.

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