HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - Flames and thick smoke shot into the dark sky as a massive fire broke out at the National Supermarket in Hialeah, prompting a significant response from the fire department.
The blaze erupted around 8 p.m. Sunday at the supermarket located on Palm Avenue near 55th Street. Firefighters battled the intense flames and thick smoke and by 5 a.m. Monday, cleanup crews were on the scene to remove charred debris and begin restoring the site.
Angel Leon, who works in the shopping plaza, described the scene as nerve-wracking.
“I was nervous,” Leon said in Spanish.
He was present before the firefighters arrived and witnessed the extensive damage caused by the blaze.
“There is a lot of damage inside” Leon explained, indicating that everything inside the supermarket, including windows, the roof, walls, and all products, was significantly damaged. Even some other stores in the plaza had some damage from the smoke.
Video from the Hialeah Fire Department shows the magnitude of the fire from up above. Officials say it took them hours to put out the blaze.
“So the obstacle was we had winds, intense heat, and then the fire was contained into a pocket of void where the aerials had to make entry with a lot of water,” said Lieutenant Carlos Gonzalez with the Hialeah Fire Department.
Fire officials reported that the smoke and flames were so extensive that they had to request a second-alarm crew to help extinguish the fire. The smoke also affected other stores in the plaza, resulting in thousands of dollars worth of damage.
“Throughout the night they did have to put out spot fires constantly so, every hour they had to put back a lot of water back on to the original site where it started,” said Gonzalez.
7 Skyforce provided an aerial view of the aftermath, the building’s roof caved in and the flames burned everything in it’s path.
Despite the extensive damage, no injuries were reported, as the supermarket was closed at the time of the incident.
“No one came out injured,” Leon said, expressing relief that no one was inside, as the outcome could have been much worse on a different day.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.
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