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Public Safety

Burning Escondido Dry Cleaner's Roof Collapses, Injuring Firefighter

Escondido firefighters battling the blaze at a dry-cleaning business on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2019, where the roof collapsed during the fire, injuring a firefighter.
Lan Dang
Escondido firefighters battling the blaze at a dry-cleaning business on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2019, where the roof collapsed during the fire, injuring a firefighter.

A firefighter was injured in a roof collapse Wednesday while battling flames engulfing an Escondido dry-cleaning business.

The blaze in the 900 block of West Valley Parkway erupted for unknown reasons shortly before 3:30 p.m., said Jeff Murdock of the Escondido Fire Department.

Shortly after firefighters began attacking the flames, part of the roof of the structure caved in, injuring one of the personnel, Murdock said. Medics took him to a hospital for treatment of trauma of undetermined severity.

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It took crews about 45 minutes to subdue the fire, which gutted the dry cleaners and caused smoke damage to adjacent commercial units, Murdock said.

The cause of the blaze remained under investigation in the late afternoon.

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