He said the quick actions of staff to contain the fire were impressive.

“The store manager has done an excellent job in containing the fire to the store room area,” he said.

“He had an electrical smell coming from stairwell below and went to investigate where he noticed smoke and fire in rear part of the store room.

“Subsequently, he grabbed an extinguisher and contained the fire prior to arrival of brigade. 

“Staff did a great job and their fire training worked well.”

When CFA units arrived they evacuated the building and cut power to the store.

“The store was still powered up with power going to those transformers, so our first priority was making sure the shop personnel were out and safe,” Senior Station Offcier Houston said.

“Crews investigated using breathing apparatus as the smoke was quite thick at that stage.” 

EARLIER: Three CFA crews have attended a fire in the storeroom of a Hargreaves Mall business this afternoon.

The fire at Thomas Jewellers was reported at 12.40pm but had been extinguished by the time the crews arrived, according to a CFA spokeswoman.