Crews Worked To Prevent A Roof Collapse After Fire Breaks Out At Bar In SE OKC

A commercial building sustained major damage after it caught fire Thursday morning.

Challenges with the location and structure of the building posed even more difficulties for firefighters. It took hours to get the fire under control.

Fire crews who responded to the fire said thick black smoke billowed from the Outskirts. It took almost 70 firefighters to work to put out the three-alarm fire.

"The biggest concern, right now, is just the construction of the building and the danger of that roof collapsing," said Oklahoma City Fire Department Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson.

Emergency calls started to flood in about 11:30 a.m. Thursday as drivers on Sooner Road near Southeast 104th saw fire and smoke pour out of a bar called Outskirts.

"It did have a good head start. Our firefighters reported seeing heavy black smoke from a good distance away," said Fulkerson. "(It) could have been maybe smoldering for a while, and then just became big enough that it was visibly from the exterior."

It's still not clear what caused the fire. The bar, which hasn't been open in the last 24 hours, had flames burn through multiple spots in the roof as fire crews attacked the flames from all sides of the building. 

Fulkerson said how the two-story structure was built posed more danger for firefighters.

"It has a bow string roof construction which are sometimes known to collapse under fire conditions," he said.

One firefighter was treated at the scene for heat exhaustion. They are expected to be OK. 

The location of the bar was another obstacle for the firefighters, Fulkerson said.

"We don't have hydrants in the area, so we've had to tanker in our water and use water that is on the fire trucks," he said.

Those trucks had to drive almost a mile one way to refill at a Dollar General down Sooner Road.

"We're very accustomed to that in Oklahoma City being a large city; 621 square miles, we have a lot of areas that don't have fire hydrants," he said.

Crews took almost two hours to get the three-alarm fire under control.

"There'll obviously be a lot of smoke and fire and water damage to the interior. We'll have to assess that once we're able to get it completely extinguished when we get inside," Fulkerson said.

The Oklahoma City Fire Department said it's too early to determine the full extent of the damage.