Photos by KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Firefighters help remove animals, including a tank of fish, from the PetSmart store near Valley View Mall on Saturday after a fire broke out. One employee of the store said about 80 animals were taken out during the emergency by staffers and onlookers. The neighboring Target store was also evacuated.

Erica Vermillion holds a puppy she rescued from the store Saturday. Vermillion said she was at the PetSmart to adopt a cat, but had found a puppy instead. She said she and her fiance are planning to name the dog Sparky.

Corey Brian Hite of Ivanhoe is charged in the fire that may have started in the break room.

An 18-year-old employee of the Valley View PetSmart was arrested Tuesday and charged with starting the weekend fire that caused an estimated $2 million in damage to the store.

Corey Brian Hite of Ivanhoe in Wythe County was charged with arson, Roanoke Fire-EMS spokeswoman Tiffany Bradbury said. Roanoke police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also helped with the investigation.

No one was injured in the fire, and all the animals in the store were evacuated safely.

Firefighters were called to PetSmart, in the 4700 block of Valley View, just after 1 p.m. Saturday. They found thick smoke coming from the store.

Bradbury said she could not say where the fire started in the store because of the ongoing investigation, but she did say that sprinklers contained it to that area.

A store employee interviewed over the weekend said the blaze started in the back of the store -- possibly in the break room.

Employees and customers described the chaos that erupted after the fire broke out. Some people ran toward the front of the store yelling "Fire!" Others, who had gone outside, decided to go back in to rescue the store's animals and customers' pets that were being groomed.

One employee estimated that they rescued 80 animals in about two minutes. The pets have been relocated to other stores in the area.

Shoppers in the neighboring Target store were also evacuated.

PetSmart spokeswoman Jessica White said Tuesday that she could not answer questions about whether Hite is still employed with the company or when the store will reopen.

Kenda Knapp, a nurse with the Banfield veterinary hospital inside PetSmart, said that she has heard it could be as long as two months before the store reopens.

She said she was surprised when she heard that an employee had been charged.

"It was a bit of a shock," she said Tuesday.