Luna's Tortilla Factory Destroyed in Fire

Fire destroyed one of the oldest and most successful Latino-owned family businesses in Dallas on Monday morning.

The seven employees inside Luna's Tortilla Factory in the 8500 block of Harry Hines Boulevard all safely escaped.

Fernando Luna Jr. said could see smoke from home.

"I could see huge smoke from two miles away," he said. "The first thing [you think about] is your dad, your nephew, your employees."

By the time he arrived, flames has spread to the attic. His father told him there was nothing that could have been done to save the building,

"It happened so quick, there wasn't any time to get scared," Fernando Luna Sr. said.

The Luna family has been making tortillas in Greater Dallas for nearly a century. The business, which started in 1924 with Maria Luna making about 500 pieces of the flatbread every day, has a factory that makes 800 dozen tortillas per hour and distributes them to more than 250 local and national restaurants and cafes.

The Harry Hines location is Luna's second home. Its original building was located on McKinney Avenue in the area once known at Little Mexico, which is now called Uptown,

"The businesses was founded by my grandmother in 1924 and carried through the years by my father and my aunt, Carmen," Fernando Luna Sr. said.

"They were the first tortilleria in Dallas, the first," said Albert Valtierra, president of the Dallas Mexican American Historical League.

Valtierra said Luna's helped pave the way for other Hispanic-owned businesses in Dallas.

"The legacy that they’ve left to the Dallas community is the fact that they were the first -- they hired people, had as many as 500 people working from the neighborhood," he said.

Luna's is nearing its 90th anniversary, and the Luna family vows to rebuild and continue a legacy built on love.

"There's no doubt that we'll rebuild," Fernando Luna Sr. said. "There's no doubt about it."

NBC 5's Ray Villeda contributed to this report.