ABILENE, Kan-  A tar pot being used by a roofing company at the West’s Plaza Country Mart in Abilene caught fire Wednesday afternoon forcing the store to evacuate for a short period of time.

Bob Sims, Abilene Fire Chief explained that crews were called to the Country Mart at approximately 2:14 p.m. for a report of a tar pot on fire in the parking lot.

“En-route we could see black smoke billowing, arrived on scene, put the tar pot out, evacuated the store. The store was probably evacuated for about 20 minutes and everything was turned back over to the employees and said it was good to go. Basically that was it, tar pot was on fire and we put it out,” Sims said.

The tar pot was being used by a roofing company that was working on the stores roof.

Sims confirmed there was no damage to the property and no injuries were reported.