PHOENIX -- Owners of a Phoenix Ranch Market are assessing the damage after a two-alarm fire ripped through the store Saturday night.
Firefighters were called out to the strip mall at Central and Southern avenues at about 8:30 p.m.
The fire reportedly started in the exhaust system of the tortilla oven. Flames quickly burned up into the roof of the old building, making it very dangerous for the nearly 100 firefighters on the scene. Parts of the ceiling and roof collapsed. Firefighters were forced to fight the flames defensively, staying out of the burning structure for their own safety.
Back in March 2001, crews fighting a massive five-alarm fire at the Southwest Supermarket at 35th Avenue and McDowell Road faced a similar situation in which flames had burned up into the roof. In that fire, the a huge portion of the roof collapsed. Firefighter Bret Tarver, trapped inside, was killed.
Crews working Saturday night's Ranch Market fire were eventually able to get a handle on things. With the help of a fire wall in the building, there were able to contain the flames to the grocery store.
The extent of the damage was not immediately available. No injuries were reported.
Pro's Ranch Market is one of six Ranch Market stores in Arizona.
Employees of the destroyed store will be reassigned to the other five locations.
"We have a lot of opportuny for them," said Tina Huff, Ranch Market's director of human resources."They'll be well taken care of."
