Volunteers Valentino Yanes, left, and Kevin Howard throw food away at the Metroplex Food Bank in Fort Worth on Monday afternoon.
The smell of smoke and rotting fruit and vegetables made the hot air stifling Monday as workers at the Metroplex Food Bank filled garbage bins with box after box of food meant for needy people.
A fire in the warehouse hours earlier had produced such thick smoke that state health inspectors deemed the food unsalvageable.
"We lost it all," said warehouse manager Braulio Martinez, dumping boxes of bananas from his front-loader. "We have nothing to give people."
The fire was reported about 5 a.m. by three women who had arrived to worship at a small section of the food bank used as a church, said Lt. Kent Worley, a Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman.
About 25 firefighters had the blaze under control in about 30 minutes, he said. The cause is under investigation but may have been an overloaded extension cord powering an air conditioner.
"The fire didn't spread to the rest of the warehouse, but the smoke was terrible," Worley said.
Much of the food was in boxes and bags instead of cans, which made it more susceptible to smoke contamination, said Emily Palmer, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
"Soot covered everything," she said. "Also, some computers were burned in the fire, and they can release volatile chemicals into the air."
Inspectors and food bank workers agreed that the wisest course was to destroy all the food, Palmer said.
Martinez said officials don't yet know the damages but estimate them at have a total damage cost but estimate they lost $100,000 to $150,000 in food.
The facility, 3200 South Yuma St., gets its food from donations, Martinez said. It distributes through churches and to low-income people who line up outside the warehouse on Thursdays. Three hundred to 600 needy families a week get help, according to the food bank's Web site.
Martinez said he doesn't know long the bank will be closed. Workers have to repair the building and replenish the food supply.
"Some people count on coming here every week," he said. "I don't know what they are going to do for food."
Call the Metroplex Food Bank, (817) 924-3333.
Distributed by the Associated Press
