Fresno firefighters scrambled Sunday morning to contain a second-alarm fire at a tortilla factory and warehouse that sent thick black smoke into the air.
October 11, 2021 – By Robert Kuwada and Anthony Galaviz – Source The Fresno Bee
Fresno firefighters scrambled Sunday morning to contain a large blaze at the La Tapatia tortilla factory and warehouse on Belmont Avenue in Central Fresno near Roeding Park.
Crews rushed to the scene after the fire was reported just before 9 a.m. and they spent a couple of hours bringing it under control but were able to contain it to one building.
“When crews first arrived, they found a building pretty well involved and they were forced to aggressively protect the surrounding structures,” Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Brad Driscoll said. “The building that was on fire is going to be a total loss.”
Heavy clouds of black smoke could be seen at least several blocks away.
The fire triggered two commercial alarms and a total of 10 units responded, Battalion Chief Thomas Cope said earlier. That translates to about 40 firefighters in all, Driscoll said, and he expected they would remain on scene till about noon doing cleanup.
“If you’re talking about a second-alarm fire that takes 40 firefighters,” Driscoll said, “we have under 100 firefighters on duty today, you take 40 out of the system we don’t have much capacity for another big incident.”
It was not known if anyone was working in the building at the time of the fire, but no injuries were reported.
Traffic was shut down at multiple intersections.
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