An elevator motor at a department store clearance center in Mesa caught fire, filling the elevator shaft with smoke and stranding a worker rescued by firefighters who broke through a wall to reach him.
Special Operations Capt. Dean Morales of Mesa Fire and Medical Department says the 19-year-old worker inhaled some smoke during the Saturday afternoon incident at Fiesta Mall and was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
Morales says the motor fire stranded the elevator car between floors, and that firefighters broke through a wall to reach the employee, who was stranded for about 20 minutes.
Morales says the fire was limited to the elevator motor and its cause wasn't immediately known.
He says the store was evacuated and firefighters removed smoke from the building.
