CITRUS HEIGHTS (CBS13) -- Callers flooded emergency dispatchers Monday night to report the Citrus Heights fire at the Sunrise Marketplace.

The fire started in the Tuesday Morning retail store's inventory room, which just happened to be full of fuel -- $1 million in products already in place for the holiday season.

"I have a fire inside my store," the call comes in from Tuesday Morning. "We were all inside in the building and it caught on fire basically."

Operator: "OK, go ahead and get everyone safely out, ok? We've got fire on the way."

The fire escalated quickly.

"Literally within two minutes all the walls crashed and everything lit up with fire," said a student at the beauty school next door, Hoss Lee Academy.

Students raced out too, leaving everything behind. One even left her car keys and purse.

Firefighters fought the flames for hours as 911 callers continued to report the emergency

"I see a bunch of black smoke. I don't see- it don't look like no white smoke at all. Nobody's trying to put it out," one caller said, not realizing that firefighters were working rapidly to battle the explosive flames.

The businesses never stood a chance -- a packed storage room and no sprinklers. The building is from the 1970s before state code mandated automatic sprinklers inside.

Tuesday Morning and the beauty school are now history, but the school's owner promises a bright future.

"We're very sad to see it go, but we will rebuild and we'll make something bigger and better," John Lockamy said.