EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A condition 4 fire was raging in a Downtown building this morning as firefighters from across the city work to put out the blaze. Smoke was visible throughout the city and blanketed the Downtown and South El Paso area.
It started around 8:30 a.m. in the 300 block of S. El Paso Street near Overland. Initially coming from an alleyway crews discovered it coming from a shoe store in that shopping area.
As the smoke continue to grow 18 fire units were called along with 50 firefighters to put out the flames.
One vendor, Premier Uniforms, is just a few doors down from where the fire took place. The owner, Hector Ayala, was in his office just minutes before the fire crews arrived.
He has since had to close for the remainder of the day but the fire department has yet to give him a timeline of when he can reopen. He said this not only affects his business right before the holiday’s but his employees as well.
“They said it would be a while so I told my staff members, a couple of my staff members, because some of them didn’t make it, not to bother to come in tomorrow. It killed by business today, just killed it.”
Crews have since knocked out the fire as well as the remaining hotspots. They have cleared El Paso street from E. San Antonio to Paisano Drive to allow emergency crews to work.
There will be an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.
KTSM has a crew en route to the scene and will provide updates as they become available.
