3-Alarm Fire Guts East Dallas Business

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - 54 Dallas firefighters battled intense smoke from a laundromat fire in 7100 block of Military Parkway and Jim Miller on Tuesday.

Due to the extremely thick smoke firefighters experienced on arrival to the 2 story brick structure they attacked the blaze defensively for more than 2 hours before they could go inside the building to fight the flames. Three fire companies fought the blaze.

Jason Evens with Dallas Fire Rescue says the smoke was worse than the fire itself because there was not a lot of ventilation in the laundromat. "If there's not a lot of oxygen feeding the fire then you get more smoke than flames" said Evans.

Evans says another issue for the firefighters was that since they couldn't see inside the building when they got there, due to the smoke, they didn't know what kind of debris or other hazardous materials lay ahead of them.

LISTEN: KRLD's Phyllis Smith reports

Nobody was seriously hurt and only one person suffered some minor smoke inhalation and was treated at the scene. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

(© Copyright 2012 KRLD AM, CBS Local. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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