The smoke that poured from a blaze at a Jack In The Box location Tuesday morning caused a four-car crash on Highway 49, fire and police officials told KCRA 3.
Minor injuries were reported in the wreck, which happened near Industrial Drive, in Martell, the California Highway Patrol said.
Smoke from the blaze had drifted onto the highway, said Rich Wetzel, of the CHP.
Highway 49 had to be shut down temporarily.
Fire crews learned of the flames just after 5:40 a.m., at the Amador County fast-food chain at 11222 Old Mill Lane, near Jackson.
As crews showed up to fight the blaze, it started hailing.
Firefighters said it was tough to fight.
"We had smoke throughout the structure," said Dave Bellerive, of the Amador Fire Protection District. "(It) kept coming back on us -- we would put the fire out, had a little bit a trouble locating where the fire was, once we did, we were able to extinguish it."
The establishment had about 15 employees at the Martell location, the regional manager told KCRA 3.
No one was at the restaurant when the fire broke out. Investigators haven't released an official cause.
Jackson Fire, CalFire, Sutter Creek Fire, Ione Fire, and Amador Fire Protection crews all responded to the blaze, according to the Amador-Ledger Dispatch newspaper.
A lot of people are thinking it's electrical. But IDK.
Video can be found here. My brother had a video of smoke pouring out of the building (that he got from a friend), and it was insane. They said the fire started in the back, near the food stuffs, storage, and we all know how oil smokes when it's over heated.