Jago Times "English Edition" Best Online Newspaper
Related Articles
Dallas firefighters battled a blaze Friday night at the vacant Valley View Center mall, more than three weeks after demolition of the building began.
Dallas-Fire Rescue units responded a little after 11 p.m. to a fire at the site of the old mall, spokesmann Jason Evans said. The fire was reported by Dallas police, who spotted the blaze.
When firefighters arrived, there was heavy smoke and fire inside the structure, Evans said, as well as multiple spot fires on the roof.
Firefighters worked for hours to douse the blaze, extinguishing it close to 2 a.m. No injuries were reported, Evans said.
Police arrested multiple juveniles in a nearby parking lot, Evans said, but later determined they arrived after the fire began.
Evans said the cause of the fire was undetermined.
The blaze comes after several other fires at the beleaguered site in Far North Dallas. Last month, two firefighters were injured battling a fire there.
The March fire sped up the demolition of the 300,000-square-foot building on the corner of LBJ Freeway and Preston Road.
“Our firefighters being hurt was enough of an argument to the state that there was a mortal danger to leaving the building standing as is,” Dallas City Council member Jaynie Schultz previously told The Dallas Morning News. “This is something that should have been done a long time ago.”
The mall has been closed since 2015, and most of it was torn down by 2019. In February, the city designated it a habitual criminal property.