8 Fire Engines Put Out Blaze At Olé Mexican Foods Inc.

NORCROSS, GA — The Gwinnett Fire Department responded to a fire at Olé Mexican Foods, Inc. in the 6400 block of Crescent Drive NW in Norcross Friday and put the fire out in about 90 minutes. No injuries were reported.

The affected building is a corn mill and refinery. Employees noticed smoke starting to fill the upper floors and activated the fire alarm system. All employees were able to exit the building unharmed. All fire department units have returned to service and the building was turned back over to the company.

Firefighters responded at 12:28 p.m. to an automatic fire alarm. The alarm company to 911 advised multiple manual pull stations were activated. Additional first party callers to 911 reported a fire on top of the building and smoke coming from the business. The call was quickly upgraded to a business fire.

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Firefighters arrived on scene to find a six-story commercial structure with heavy smoke from the roof. Crews quickly deployed a high-rise pack to the fourth floor and connected to the building’s standpipe system. The fire pump for the standpipe system was currently operating and the sprinkler system was active. A CO2 extinguishing system also discharged on the fifth floor. Heavy smoke conditions and fire was located on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors. Firefighters were able to knock down fire on all floors and redirect to the roof where active fire was coming from an exhaust pipe. Before the fire could breach the affected system, copious amounts of water was applied to extinguish the blaze. The fire was contained to metal pipe used in a process to dry corn flakes prior to the refinery process. Crews began ventilating the residual smoke from the building using positive pressure fans. Approximately 60 firefighters were on the scene due to the size and complexity of the incident. The fire originated on the fourth floor due to malfunctioning equipment. The corn flakes in the pipe contributed to the flame spread inside the machinery.

Equipment at the scene included: eight engines, three trucks, two squads, one technical rescue unit, one rehab unit, one light/air unit, two medic units, one medical supervisor, three battalion chiefs, one deputy chief, and two fire investigators.

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Photos courtesy Gwinnett Fire Department