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.