MIAMI
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An overnight fire ripped through a strip mall in southwest Miami-Dade, destroying a beauty salon and damaging four other nearby businesses.
The flames broke out at around 3 a.m. at the strip mall located on Southwest Eighth Street and 127th Avenue.
Firefighters say the blaze started at a beauty salon inside the strip mall. They say the firewall separating the businesses held, helping to keep the flames from spreading to other businesses. However, four businesses sustained water and smoke damage.
Cristo Aguado's family owns Wajior's Restaurant, which is next door to the beauty salon. The damage to the restaurant was minimal, but he says he feels sorry for his neighbors.
"They are our friends, and we feel so bad for them," Aguado told Local 10's Kellie Butler.
Officials told neighboring business owners it might take weeks or months to reseal the firewalls and repair the damage to the strip mall.
"We're going to probably be closed between three and six months, so it's not something that's going to be handled easily," said Roberto Fernandez, who owns a Metro PCS store.
Alfredo Manzur, who owns a perfume shop next to the shop where the fire started, said financially, the blaze will hurt.
"This is the family income, and for us, it's a problem. Can you imagine how our friends here in the salon, for 30 years they've been there, and it's the only source of income," Manzur said.
People who rely on the businesses in the strip mall wonder what they will do until everything gets back to normal.
"I go to Metro PCS to pay for my phone and I go to Wajiro's and eat there," said Andrew Gomez. "I've lived here my whole life and to see it like this, it's pretty bad."
No injuries were reported.
Fire investigators are trying to determine the cause.
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