A fire early Saturday morning destroyed the Flying J Travel Plaza on Interstate 94 outside of Beach.

Beach Fire Chief Gary Braden said the fire started on a grill in the kitchen and went into the exhaust hood, spreading throughout the building.

A worker noticed it right away and called the fire department at 6:45 a.m. There were around 15 people in the building at the time, and all escaped without injury.

Also responding to the fire were departments from Wibaux, Mont., and Sentinel Butte.

After fighting the fire for five hours, Braden said the fire departments were running out of water.

"We put a lot of water on it," he said. "But it kept burning."

He said there was no danger to other structures or grassy areas, so it was safe to stop dousing the fire with water and let it burn out. It was still smoldering Monday evening.

"It could smolder like this for a couple days," Braden said.

Braden said the next step is up to Flying J, a company that owns 168 travel plazas throughout the United States. It will decide whether to rebuild, which Braden said is possible because the gas pumps next to the building were not damaged.

"I hope and pray they decide to rebuild," Braden said. "We really need this here."

Braden said at least 45 jobs were lost with the destruction of the Flying J.

(Reach reporter Katie Brown at 250-8225 or katie.brown@;bismarcktribune.com)