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Pineville Salvation Army store reopens after volunteer firefighter's death

PINEVILLE, N.C. — The Pineville Salvation Army Family Store reopened Wednesday after being damaged by an adjacent fire nearly three months ago.

The Family Store is next door to the business that went up in flames in late April, causing damage to the other buildings and claiming the life of Pineville volunteer firefighter Richard Sheltra.

The store was severely damaged from the fire, so everything inside is brand new.

A lightning strike on April 30 started a 3-alarm fire at the Edwin Watts golf store next door that led to the death of Sheltra.

Sheltra’s death hit the Pineville community hard and the Salvation Army said it has impacted them as well.

Customers waited in line for the store to reopen.

“It has wounded us. It has really wounded us so we are glad to have the Salvation Army back,” customer Judy Frye said.

The store is also one of five branches in the Charlotte area that funds a place to help people with addictions. That’s a big reason why they wanted to get the store open as quickly as possible.

"While we're able to move on and open the store, our thoughts and prayers are still with the family of Richard Sheltra," Salvation Army Store supervisor Kevin Brown said in a news release. "We had to replace everything inside the store, but it's nothing compared to the loss of life."

Edwin Watts Golf Store officials has not said if it will reopen. The Pineville location has been deleted from the company’s website.

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