Strip-mall fire wakes up Phoenix neighborhood
Jan 14, 2014, 7:05 AM | Updated: 7:05 am
PHOENIX — A Phoenix strip mall was damaged by fire early Tuesday morning.
Firefighters said the fire started on the roof of the shopping center at 19th Avenue just south of Camelback Road. A vacant office and a massage/tanning salon appeared to have the most damage while other shops suffered smoke damage.
Romaldo Gonzales owns a computer-repair shop in the mall close to where the fire was and is relieved his business is intact.
“I had a lot of smoke in there but we opened up the door and let a lot of it out. … it’s a big relief. I was impressed with the firefighters because they put this out quickly.”
Gonzales started getting alerts on his cellphone around 1:30 and raced over to the mall. He planned to open for business as usual.
Fire investigators are still searching for a cause for the blaze.