By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
A fire in an abandoned trailer shut down two fast food restaurants on Gibbs Street Thursday afternoon and evening.
The trailer, located behind Little Caesar’s Pizza and Wing Stop,
located in a strip mall at 615 E. Gibbs Street, caught fire.
“We smelled smoke and didn’t think anything about it,” said Angel Jimenez, a crew member at Little Caesars. “Then, a customer called and said it looked like we were on fire. I went out and looked and called 911.”
Pete Camarillo, general manager of Wing Stop shared a similar timeline that they were eating, smelled smoke and called it in.
Within minutes after calling, employees from both restaurants said the Del Rio Fire Department was on scene followed by firefighters and resources from Val Verde County Fire Department.
Captain Clay Sinclair, shift commander for Del Rio Fire Department, said there was some damage to the building’s back wall and roof and the trailer was destroyed.
Del Rio Fire Department had three large fire trucks on scene and 18 people battling the blaze while Val Verde County had 1 large fire truck and five smaller vehicles on scene and six firefighters.
While the trailer was destroyed, there was minimal damage to the restaurants and little damage to the apartment building less than 20 feet from the fire.
Employees of the restaurants said they were aware of homeless people living in the trailer at times.
