The fire originated inside building 74, which was a sign shop. This building backed up to an entertainment venue and was located on Kansas Street across from the sound stage. A show had just finished there and the crowd was being escorted by the actors from the show. Within minutes, flames were discovered inside the shop and security radioed the front gate, which called 911. In the meantime, someone pulled a fire hose from just north of this location (outside the Rio Bravo Jail building). When it was discovered that the hose was not long enough, it was dropped and another hose was pulled from the area of Chinese Alley. However, the original hose was not turned off, which bled off the pressure to the second hose. 300 guests and employees were forced to evacuate the park. Tucson Estates Fire Department arrived in less than 10 minutes with one truck and two firemen. However, by this time the fire had progressed too quickly to be suppressed by this basic equipment. A multiple-alarm call was put out to dispatch more fire units. 100 pieces of equipment and over 200 firefighters were deployed from every fire department in the Tucson metro area, including Davis Monthan Air Force Base and the Arizona National Guard.