Fire ravages 9 businesses in Long Beach

A fast-moving fire ripped through nine businesses in Long Beach early Saturday morning, devastating merchants and residents. According to fire officials, the blaze started at Edward Jones Investment

News 12 Staff

May 16, 2009, 10:44 PM

Updated 5,605 days ago

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A fast-moving fire ripped through nine businesses in Long Beach early Saturday morning, devastating merchants and residents.
According to fire officials, the blaze started at Edward Jones Investment at around 3 a.m. and quickly spread, gutting adjacent stores one by one. Some 200 firefighters were called to battle the flames. No one was hurt in the fire.
Christina Campbell, a florist and special events planner, says she arrived at her store at 5 a.m. and for two hours watched as her business was reduced to a heap of ashes.
"You put your heart and soul into a business," she says. "We are a small business. We don't have deep pockets."
Merchants are not the only people reeling from the aftermath of the fire. William Sandoval was renting an apartment above a shoe repair shop that was destroyed.
"I am just waiting to go back in and see what we have left and start over, I guess," he says.
As the massive cleanup continues, storeowners like Campbell say they intend to rebuild. The Red Cross says it will put up Sandoval and his family in a hotel until they find another residence.