Overnight fire damages Northwest Austin shopping center
The Fashion Exchange, one of the businesses in the 12-store shopping center at 5114 Balcones Woods Drive, was gutted by the fire. The others sustained varying levels of smoke damage.
Still, firefighters were able to stop the flames and smoke from injuring about 40 cats and dogs at the Arbor Animal Clinic in the center. All had survived and were okay, firefighters said.
The first fire call came in around 4 a.m.
"Our crews got here about three minutes after the call came in and they had smoke showing from the Fashion Exchange and shortly after that we had fire bust through the front windows and that's when our units called for a second alarm," said Lt. Gary Wilkes of the Austin Fire Department.
Dozens of cats and dogs inside an animal clinic there were unharmed.
"Inside the animal clinic there were 40 animals. We were able to ventilate the structure and were currently doing air monitoring to make sure the air is ok. All of the cats and dogs that were in the clinc are safe and no problems with those," explains Lt. Wilkes.
The fire was declared extinguished at 4:50 a.m.
The firefighter hospitalized reported feeling nauseous. He later suffered a heart attack. His name hasn't been made public.
The cause of the fire wasn't immediately known and there was no estimate of damages.
