Massive East EP Blaze Keeps 100+ Firefighters Busy Sunday Night
EL PASO, Tx. – Fire crews spent most of Sunday night battling a massive restaurant fire on the city’s eastside.
According to EPFD officials, the blaze broke out shortly after 7:30 Sunday evening, along the 1400 block of Lee Trevino, near the Pellicano intersection. When crews arrived on the scene, the building was fully engulfed in flames.
El Paso fire officialsused the parking lot of the Incredible Pizza Company as a staging area as they battled the huge blaze. Three of the EPFD’s ‘Ladder Units’ were at the rear of the structure, pouring water on the blaze from above.
Fire officials on the scene tell ABC-7 that crews had to be kept at a distance as the building “could havecollapsed at any moment.” Officials add that the building was in the process of being renovated as a restaurant / sports bar.
Witnesses and our ABC-7 crews report that there were at least two explosions during the height of the blaze. Officials tell ABC-7 there were CO2 tanks inside the building that may have ignited due to the intense heat.
Lt. Mario Hernandez tells ABC-7 that investigators believe the fire’s cause to be suspicious, as the “fire spread very quickly [and] witnesses report several suspicious vehicles in the area shortly before the fire broke out.”
Assmoke drifted over the Lee Trevino-Pellicanoarea, EPFD Crews only evacuated the Silver Streak Hamburger Stand, located right next door to the fire.
El Paso Police redirected traffic around the area, and witnesses tell ABC-7 that the flames from the fire couldbe seen from Interstate 10.
Officials say the restaurant was scheduled to open “in a few weeks.” So far, emergency crews report that there are no injuries as a result of the fire.
