A grease fire early this morning at a McDonald's located inside a Walmart caused the evacuation of about 200 customers and employees.
The store, in the 1600 block of West Valencia Road at South Midvale Park Road, was closed for about an hour, Capt. Chris Jurvig, a spokesman for the Tucson Fire Department, said in a news release. The restaurant has not yet reopened.
McDonald’s employees were in the kitchen at about 5:45 a.m. when they noticed smoke and fire coming from the back of a deep fryer. They unsuccessfully tried to put out the fire before calling 911, Jurvig said.
Fire crews used three portable CO2 extinguishers to put out the blaze.
It took 23 firefighters from nine units about 15 minutes to control the fire and determine it had not spread to the roof or other areas of the building.
