Fresno firefighters knock down large blaze that destroys tortilla plant near Roeding Park
Fresno firefighters scrambled Sunday morning to contain a large blaze at the La Tapatia tortilla plant on Belmont Avenue near Roeding Park in central Fresno.
Crews rushed to the scene after the fire was reported just before 9 a.m. and they spent several hours bringing it under control. They were able to contain it to one building.
An adjacent La Tapatia store and other businesses along that stretch of Belmont near Palm Avenue were not impacted.
“When crews first arrived, they found a building pretty well involved and they were forced to aggressively protect the surrounding structures,” Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Brad Driscoll said. “The building that was on fire is going to be a total loss.”
Heavy clouds of black smoke could be seen several blocks away, and the roof of the building eventually collapsed. The fire, smoldering under the roof, reignited at one point.
The fire triggered two commercial alarms and a total of 10 units responded. That translates to about 40 firefighters in all, Driscoll said, and he expected they would remain on scene till about noon doing cleanup.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, and it was not immediately known if anyone was working in the building at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported.
Traffic was shut down at multiple intersections along Belmont Avenue; they had reopened by about 12:30 p.m.
“The age of the buildings makes it a little harder for us to put fires out – un-sprinklered buildings and just the age of the masonry construction makes it harder to get into the building,” Driscoll said.
La Tapatia factory
La Tapatia president Helen Chavez-Hansen moved her business to the Belmont location in 1982, according to past Bee coverage, and has seen tremendous growth in her company and consumers’ appetite for tortillas.
Founded in 1946, the company has grown from a small-time factory to one that, according to a 2016 Bee story, generates $30 million-plus in sales and employs 170 people.
La Tapatia’s corn and flour tortilla products are sold throughout the western U.S. and overseas. The company has made significant inroads into several countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and Dubai.
The company’s Belmont Avenue factory can fill 30 to 40 shipping containers of product each month for its foreign customers.
This story was originally published October 10, 2021 at 9:29 AM.