Firefighters from throughout the Hidalgo County region battled a large blaze Saturday afternoon that consumed a significant portion of the Don-Wes Flea Market in Donna.
A giant plume of smoke could be seen miles from the flea market, which is located on Victoria Road and Business 83 in Donna, where fire departments from Weslaco, Mercedes, the Delta area, Pharr, Edinburg and McAllen assisted local firefighters in an effort to extinguish the blaze.
Weslaco Fire Chief Antonio Lopez said Saturday afternoon that he was unaware of any injuries and said there were no reported deaths.
However, Lopez said he did know of one request for EMS made by a civilian, and was uncertain about that individual’s condition or the circumstances of the call.
As of 3 p.m. the fire had yet to be extinguished and more agencies were called to assist at that time.
“There are multiple agencies out here and the fire is still going,” Lopez said just after 3:30 p.m. “There are strong winds right now and (the fire) seems to be wind-driven, and the temperature — it’s around 102 or 103 degrees — doesn’t help. So we called multiple agencies because it’s pretty hot for firefighters out here.”
As of just after 5:30 p.m. Lopez said firefighters were largely done extinguishing hot spots after crews doused portions of the flea market all afternoon. According to the Weslaco fire chief, multiple crews had been fighting the flames since sometime after 1 p.m.
Surveying the area, several of the facilities — appearing to be what were once trailers and vendor shops — were burned to the ground.
Attempts to reach Donna Fire Chief David Simmons and Don-Wes representatives were unsuccessful as of press time Saturday.
Editor’s note: This story and its headline were updated with additional information.
