Fire closes Dairy Queen indefinitely

It’ll be a while before Blizzards will be available at the Dairy Queen on Valwood Parkway.

A fire the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 14 forced the local franchise to close for an unknown period of time. No one was injured.

Steve Chambers, director of operations of Lonestar Dairy Queen, said the general manager and two employees were in the store at the time. 

Chambers said the general manager said she was helping a customer at the drive through when she smelled smoke.

“She said, ‘Steve, I could smell it bad all of a sudden,’” he said. 

He said she did everything right in clearing everyone from the store and calling 911. 

He said he understands that the Farmers Branch Fire Department responded very quickly, and that while they told him the store is a complete loss, most of the damage is at the front of the store. 

“Most of the damage appears to be isolated,” he said before he had the opportunity to enter the store to examine the damage. “Hopefully there’s no damage in the back.”

The cause of the fire is still undetermined, according to the Farmers Branch Fire Department.

Chambers said making sure the employees are taken care of is his main concern.

“All of a sudden you have 15 people who can’t clock in,” he said.

Lonestar Dairy Queen is a private-equity firm that franchises 38 Dairy Queens, all in Texas. They have five stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“Everybody will have the opportunity to work,” Chambers said. “I can’t imagine how they feel.”

Farmers Branch Fire Department units Quint 133, Engine 131 and Battalion 131, along with Carrollton Fire Rescue units T112, Engine 111, Engine 115 and Battalion 111 responded while the Farmers Branch Police Department responded to the incident and blocked off Valwood Parkway in both directions to protect crews operating on the scene and the supply line on westbound Valwood Parkway, according to a statement from the City of Farmers Branch. Chief 133 investigated the structure fire and estimated the losses to be $750,000 in structural losses with $350,000 in content losses.

The Farmers Branch and Carrollton Police Departments were working on separate incidents in the area that the Farmers Branch Police Department (FBPD) confirmed were not related to the fire at Dairy Queen. 

FBPD was responding to an attempted robbery at Jack in the Box at 14050 North I-35E Service Rd., which was “related to an incident at the nearby Carrollton McDonald’s, which prompted Carrollton to deploy their drone,” according to a statement by FBPD.