Fort St. John Staples provides curbside pickup during closure

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Staples in Fort St. John remains closed but has started offering curbside pickup as of January 18th.

Staples owner Lokesh Chopra shared the news in a local Facebook group Wednesday after the store’s sprinkler system failed over the weekend.

Energeticcity.ca reached out to the local Staples and the store’s head office about the extent of damages but did not receive a reply by publication time.

Earlier this week, Matt Troiano, deputy fire chief of the Fort St. John Fire Department, told Energeticcity.ca that crews arrived on the scene around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday to water coming out of the front of Staples due to a sprinkler head that broke in the front lobby.

When temperatures get as cold as they have been, he said some buildings with sprinkler systems will experience failures.

The Totem Mall was evacuated because when the sprinklers are triggered in any way, they activate the alarms throughout the entire building so everyone leaves safely.

Troiano said the fire department will respond to these incidents to eliminate further damage by stopping the water. Once the sprinklers are off, it will be up to a maintenance company to service the system.

After the incident was not deemed an emergency, the fire department allowed everyone to return to the mall to get warm.

The store remained fully closed until Thursday morning.