By MIKE ROSIER/Publisher

Published on Friday, February 26, 2010 - 9:06am |

• News

JOHNSTON – Investigators with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division were on the scene Thursday to look into the cause of a Wednesday evening blaze that gutted a downtown building which housed a Mexican store and restaurant.

Johnston Police Chief Chris Aston said the agency was on hand at the request of his department due to the amount of property damage which had been inflicted by the fire.

“Just with the amount of damage to the building we wanted them to come down and take a look at it,” Aston said. “There’s no reason to suspect arson or anything else at this point right now, but whatever direction (the investigation) takes after that that’s where we’ll go.”

Aston said it’s still too soon to speculate as to what cause the fire that destroyed the “La Hidaegueuse” and sent plumes of smoke billowing all over town.