Historic drugstore in downtown Cumming catches fire, closing several streets

CUMMING, Georgia – Several streets around downtown Cumming were closed late Sunday evening while Forsyth County firefighters worked to extinguish a fire that broke out at a Staples pharmacy in the community.

The Goodson Drug Company, located at 116 West Maple Street, went up in flames Sunday evening. Officials are still trying to figure out why.

They received the call about the fire around 7 p.m. When they arrived, they said they saw heavy smoke coming from the building.

When the fire reached its peak, 11 units were on scene. Officials said they took a heavy-handed approach because of the size and age of the building and out of concern that the disease could spread to neighboring buildings.

At 8:50 p.m., Captain Jason Shivers confirmed that the fire was considered under control but that “significant recovery work” would need to be carried out.

Goodson’s is a family-owned grocery store that has reportedly been dispensing prescriptions to people in the Cumming community for nearly 70 years. Battalion Chief Scott Kennedy said it was possible some of the recipes in the building were affected.

“It’s a regular pharmacy and a full-service pharmacy, so there’s probably a significant amount of prescriptions and medications to deal with,” Kennedy explained. “It’s a good family business…like you said, they’ve been here a long time and have really supported the community in a lot of different ways. So, hopefully, [they’ll] be able to get back on your feet.

Kennedy said there was a firewall inside the building that most likely helped prevent the fire from spreading.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.