Photos: Steve Marcotte / OsideNews
Oceanside CA- A two alarm fire gutted the Deibertos Mexican Food Restaurant at 3371 Mission Ave, early Wednesday morning.
Two employees were doing prep work in the store when a fire started in some grease behind them. The workers called 911 at 6:56 AM and the fire department was on the scene at 6:58 AM as the store is across the street from Oceanside Fire Station 7.
In a preliminary investigation, the hood fire suppression system activated but was overwhelmed by the volume of flames and despite the two minute response time, flames were shooting through the roof by the time the first engines arrived on the scene of the rapidly moving fire.
It took 38 firefighters with eight Engines, two Trucks and two ambulances from Oceanside, Vista and Carlsbad about 30 minutes to get the fire under control according to Oceanside Battalion Chief, Pete Lawrence. The cause of the fire is under investigation and the damage is estimated at $350,000.
Owner of the building, Norman Levitt said the building has housed the Mexican restaurant for about 15 years. Levitt said he plans to rebuild and there will be a nice new Mexican restaurant at the location in about a year.