Airdrie firefighters were called to the scene of a compactor fire behind the Canadian Tire building on Veterans Blvd. on Thursday.
The fire broke out over the lunch hour, and caused the evacuation of customers and store employees, who were still waiting outside the building as of 1:15 p.m. Police barricaded off the scene while a lift truck was brought in to pull the smoking compactor away from the building and empty it into the parking lot so firefighters could better access the burning contents inside and put it out.
No cause for the blaze has yet been confirmed, and a store employee on the scene said they also did not yet know what caused it.
Compactors are used by large retailers to compact trash before eventual disposal.
