Police cruisers and fire trucks blocked a portion of Davis Avenue in Elkins around noon as firefighters investigated the cause of the smoke smell at Mountain Valley Bank. Members of the Elkins Fire Department, Beverly Volunteer Fire Department and the Elkins Police Department responded.

Police cruisers blocked Davis Avenue at the Fourth Street and Third Street intersections while firefighters investigated the cause of the smoke for about 45 minutes.

Firefighters could be seen looking into the basement of the building through an opening on the sidewalk. They also took time to go inside the CJ Maggies restaurant as well as the bank to search for the source of the smoke.

“We responded to an odor of smoke in the building,” Elkins Fire Department Lt. Andrew Roth told The Inter-Mountain Thursday afternoon. “We had a similar incident before with dried leaves caught in the grate and someone tossed a cigarette into the grate and caused smoke to fill the building.”

The Elkins Fire Department, Beverly Volunteer Fire Department and the Elkins Police Department responded to Mountain Valley Bank on Davis Avenue in Elkins after bank employees reported smelling smoke in the building.

Roth said the cause of the smoke Thursday also came from a cigarette thrown down the grate. He explained that dried leaves were stuck inside the grate leading to the basement of the building.

Roth encouraged smokers to “properly dispose of your cigarettes.”

On Dec. 15, 2021, The Inter-Mountain reported that the Elkins Fire Department responded to smoke coming from Mountain Valley Bank. It was reported then that the smoke was caused by a cigarette butt down the grate in the sidewalk that serves as a vent.

During the 2021 incident, the cigarette actually led to a fire in a very small crawl space underneath the building. Firefighters had to go through the floor of the building by breaking the floor and using a concrete saw to access the fire.