Fire Damages Oklahoma Strip Mall

OKLAHOMA CITY --

A fire at an Oklahoma City strip mall kept more than 50 firefighters busy for more than three hours and destroyed two businesses.

Fire Destroys 2 Metro BusinessesGet Wireless Alerts!

The fire at Northwest 10th Street and MacArthur Boulevard put crews in a defensive mode almost immediately after the arrived. Firefighters said the roof and ceiling quickly started to collapse.

"We had to abandon our attack," said Oklahoma City Dep. Fire Chief Cecil Clay. "The air conditioning unit started collapsing into the structure."

He said that the awnings on the older structure weren't holding and that also had them keeping crews farther away.

Witnesses said the scene was chaotic.

"We saw everybody run out there. We saw firefighters come flying in the parking lot and everyone taking off in their cars," said witness Hunter Deeter.

"One guy went over the curb in his truck, just trying to get out of there," said witness Zack Grey. "We were across the street, just watching."

Christie's Toy Box and the bar that sits next to it were both destroyed, firefighters said.

Investigators said they didnt know what caused the fire but planned to return to the scene on Saturday to look for more answers.