Vintage Coke Machine Fire Threatens a Houston Institution: 42 Years of Comics, Games and a Super Pricey Millennium Falcon Dodge Danger

Anyone who’s ever suffered through a tepid Coke will tell you that they prefer their soda ice-cold. But it turns out there’s a third, worse option: scorching hot. Literally.

A vintage Coca-Cola machine sparked a fire at Third Planet Sci-Fi Superstore at 2718 Southwest Freeway Sunday morning around 6 am. No people or merchandise were hurt in the fire.

The store was empty at the time of the fire. The store doesn’t open until 10, and owner T.J. Johnson was at a bowling tournament in the Fort Worth Area.

The store’s security company was alerted when the fire alarm went off, and the fire department was called. General manager Stephanie McFall was alerted afterwards.

When McFall first found out, she was told the fire was “small,” she tells PaperCity.  That did little to relieve her, at first. “It’s a store full of paper kindling. How small is small? One half of the store? One third? One fourth?” she asks. “How small is small?”

She made it to the scene at around 7:45 am, and the fire was largely already put out. It went from Flame On! to flames out within two hours. McFall and the entire staff are incredibly appreciative of the response from Stationhouse #16. “Their firefighters arriving when they did was really the only reason this did not turn into a devastating situation,” McFall says. “I know it’s cheesy since we’re a comics and toys store, but they really were superheroes for us on Sunday.

“It’s an 8,000 square-foot-store, and only 10 square feet got hurt, just the coke machine and the wall behind it,” McFall says.

McFall stayed past 11 pm cleaning up after the fire, cleaning off a lot of ash. Still, Third Planet remained open to the public throughout the ordeal.

“We had customers coming in and out. We’re not going to let a little fire stop us!” Third Planet has been in business for more than 42 years and has accumulated many comic books, games, figurines, and more in that time.

“To me, it’s a tragedy if we lose any comic book,” McFall says. But what would be the most alarming merch to lose?

“We have a limited edition 30th Anniversary Lego Millennium Falcon,” she says. At the time of its release, the Lego set was the largest one ever created. Third Planet’s is still factory-sealed.

It could turn out be even more valuable than they consider it now. “When they came out, 100 contained solid gold C3POs. Not all are accounted for,” McFall explains.

After this incident, will McFall and the staff ever be able to look at Coke the same way?

“I’m actually drinking one right now with my lunch from the good machine,” McFall laughs.

That’s right — before 6 am yesterday, there were two identical vintage Coke machines. Same exact make and model. Third Planet doesn’t plan to replace the one that set off the smoke alarm, but McFall thinks they may keep the other around.

“We’ll definitely get someone to come out and check the other one,” McFall says. “I definitely don’t want to go through that again.”