More Than 20 Companies Battle Blaze : Huge Fire Erupts at Vacated Market
More than a score of fire companies from Orange and Los Angeles counties battled a huge blaze at an empty supermarket in Buena Park Thursday night, fire officials said.
The fire at the vacated Vons market at the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue erupted at 6:55 p.m. and threatened to spread to an adjacent drugstore before firefighters were able to control the blaze at 8:20 p.m., said Capt. Gordon Pearson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
No injuries were reported, he said.
Flames reached 100 feet high, prompting the firefighters to evacuate several customers and employees of the Thriftimart next door to the Vons building. The combined structures measure 40,000 square feet, Pearson said.
A parapet on the supermarket also crashed to the ground before the firefighters controlled the fire, he said.
“There was a tremendous volume of smoke,” Pearson said.
Fire engines from the two county fire departments helped other units from Buena Park, Brea, La Habra and Fullerton extinguish the blaze, a Buena Park Fire Department spokesman said.
Fire investigators were still searching for a cause of the blaze. Damage was estimated at $200,000.
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