More than a dozen people have been displaced because of a fire in Baldwin early Thursday.

Fire officials say the fire broke out just before 1 a.m. at a building on Grand Avenue.

According to officials, the flames originated in the basement of a deli from an extension cord.

A total of 40 firefighters from four departments responded to the scene and got it under control in about 90 minutes.

The deli and three other businesses on the stretch were destroyed. Apartments above the stores suffered fire damage – leaving 20 people, including four children, displaced.

No one was injured in the fire.

Mark Allen's business, All Nation Clean Cuts Barbershop, was among the four shops on the stretch destroyed by the fire

"I am really saddened because I started business a little less than four years now and looking to keep growing, but this is like a pushback now," Allen says.

The fire also gutted Benny Rodriguez's business, El Colmadon Deli, a store it took him four years to build.

"It's all gone - it's how I take care of my family, a family of five and it's just sad," Rodriguez says.

The business owners say their thoughts are with the residents who were forced to evacuate their apartments and are now homeless.

"I was just a business owner, but that's their life right there," Allen says.

Both Rodriguez and Allen say they plan to rebuild their businesses.