HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - Firefighters have extinguished a fire that ravaged multiple restaurants in Hollywood.
The fire broke out along the Hollywood Broadwalk, early Thursday morning.
“My heart breaks for everyone, for the businesses,” Tara Christie, whose restaurant was damaged, said. “We just got out of being shut down for almost three months.”
When fire crews arrived, flames could be seen bursting through windows and doorways of at least four restaurants.
La Brochetterie and Little Venice Restaurant sustained more damage than the others, fire officials said.
Firefighters halted spraying water on the fire shortly before 7 a.m.
7SkyForce HD hovered over the scene where extensive damage could be seen to the building.
“I just came here in shock because I know the business owner called me this morning that our business had a fire,” said Marcella Jaranillo, whose business was damaged. “Thank God At Peru wasn’t as affected as the other business, but I just want to say, ‘Thank you, Jesus, that you always protect us.'”
Jaranillo is now worried about how the fire will affect her employees.
“They won’t be able to come to work today and maybe tomorrow,” she said.
“We know the owners, so oh, my goodness,” another woman said. “My daughter and her friends, are they out of work? Is everybody OK? Did anybody get hurt? I mean, there’s a lot of things going through my mind.”
One woman told 7News she believes she knows which building the fire started in.
“I was down on the boardwalk, and I look here, and I see this big black smoke, just big black smoke,” said waitress Natalia Dewinter. “I tell my friend, and he sees it, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s a fire.’ I saw that there actually was a huge fire, and the whole Little Venice was completely up in smoke.”
Fire crews remain on the scene and are spread all the way to North Ocean Drive.
The extra space is needed to bring extra emergency material to the scene.
7News cameras captured a distraught woman who crossed the police line. She is believed to be an owner or a worker at one of the damaged restaurants who was looking for someone.
“I feel terrible because I have employees, and anyway, I have to pay my duties, rent, everything,” one woman said.
“My heart goes out to all the owners, you know, it’s really hard especially after corona,” Jorge Aller said. “We barely made it through corona and now this here. It’s just material stuff. Hopefully, we can come back from this. I mean, we came back from corona, why not? I mean, you got to keep a positive attitude.”
No injuries were reported.
Fire officials said it is easy for a fire to spread when businesses are so close together.
“Even if there’s no openings on the walls, a fire can create an opening by burning it,” said Hollywood Fire Rescue Chief Analdy Garcia.
Police have put up police tape and are investigating the cause of the fire.
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