Firefighters were still at the scene Tuesday morning hours after a fire at a shopping plaza in Hollywood. More than 100 firefighters battled the fire Monday and remained through the night and into the following morning checking for hotspots.
Debris, soot, and water now cover the inside of at least seven businesses damaged by the afternoon fire. Hollywood Fire Rescue says flames sparked up at 1:45 p.m. on the north end of the shopping plaza and made its way south.
"I did see some flames about 10 foot high, so that's a good size fire," said witness Philip Paniccia.
Crews were able to contain much of the smoke and flames, but a few hours later it re-ignited and quickly spread. Firefighters say chemicals and supplies inside an unoccupied business provided more fuel to the fire.
"There's a lot of debris, a lot of product which creates voids that allows some small pockets of fire to keep burning," said Hollywood Fire Chief Chris del Campo.
A man who was inside a Jamaican restaurant heard a noise and ran out. He says the eatery has been in this plaza for more than 11 years.
"Horrible, horrible. It's heart breaking... it's gonna be a real problem... you know she's been there for so long. So I don't know what she's gonna do," said Ram, who is a friend of the restaurant owner.
Employees, customers, and even animals from a pet store were evacuated from the strip mall, while area residents stood around in shock that some of their favorite businesses were now destroyed in front of their eyes.
"I'm very sad, especially the kids because they love to play with the cats and the birds and everything," said Pet Supermarket customer, Dawn Brooster.
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Not all stores in the plaza were hit by the fire, but it was a close call for a liquor store which was just one wall away from potentially losing their business.
"Luckily we had a fire wall between the shoe store and the liquor store so thank God," said Dershana Perera of Time Out Liquor.
Despite all the damage, no one was injured in the fire.
Hollywood Boulevard from State Road 7 west to 62nd Avenue remained shut down late into the night.
Both have since been reopened to vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
