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Destiny USA was evacuated shortly after 6:35 p.m. Tuesday due to reports of smoke coming from the roof above the Cheesecake Factory.

The fire began outside of the building with a large piece of roofing, said John Kane, the deputy chief of fire of Syracuse Fire Department, in a report by syracuse.com. The mall’s fire alarms did not initially go off, so mall security guards were called to pull the fire alarm manually. The first response units were on the scene in three minutes, Kane said.

Firefighters found that two nearby fire hydrants outside the mall were inoperable. Kane said the malfunction did not impact the operation.

Ashley Woolworth, a security guard at the mall, told The Daily Orange that she and others in a group of security guards headed to the scene because of reports about visible smoke outside the mall.

Sections of the roof had to be cut with saws and checked for possible hidden pockets of fire. It took more than 45 minutes to extinguish the flames, Kane said.

“The safety of our tenants and guests is one of our highest priorities,” Destiny USA said in a statement following the fire. “Out of an abundance of caution and at the direction of the Syracuse Fire Department, Destiny USA was evacuated this evening to investigate reports of smoke coming from near one of our tenant spaces.”

“The building continues to be closed for the time being until the incident is investigated and deemed safe to re-open by the Syracuse Fire Department. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank our tenants and guests for their cooperation.”

This post will be updated with additional reporting.

Published on December 8, 2021 at 1:00 am

Contact Grace: gdkatz@syr.edu