By Gina Yarbrough
Oceanside, CA–A two-alarm commercial structure fire Saturday morning damaged two restaurants and threatened a third business in downtown Oceanside, authorities said.
Shortly after 10 a.m., an Oceanside fire station near the location was alerted of the blaze by a resident who saw heavy smoke rising from the rooftop of Benito’s Pizza Cafe, located at 610 Mission Avenue, Fire Battalion Chief Jessamyn Specht said Saturday.
Carlsbad and Vista Fire Departments were dispatched to the scene to assist Oceanside fire crews in containing the blaze.
Fire crews were met with extreme heat and smoke conditions from the structure, prompting them to send an additional truck to the roof to ventilate the structure and allow the super-heated smoke and gasses to release from the building.
Two trucks on scene flowed water through the roof and fire crews used large hose lines from the ground to douse the fire in front of the business.
Additional crews made entry into another restaurant, Angry Chickz to check for extension and found that the fire had crossed over into the attic of the restaurant. Crews continued fighting the fire inside the building from Angry Chickz, while fighting the fire from outside. A firewall was able to keep the fire from extending into Dairy Queen.
After five hours, crews were able to control and extinguish the fire.
No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
