A fire at a Garden Grove strip mall Thursday night caused more than $1 million in damages, officials said.
The blaze was reported around 8:40 p.m. at a strip mall in the 12500 block of Valley View Street, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
A number of businesses have been forced to close following the incident.
Responding crews saw flames coming from the roof of the building and the blaze was declared a second-alarm fire, prompting the response of more than 40 firefighters, OCFA Capt. Thanh Nguyen said.
Lowell Barnhart who lived nearby witnessed the massive flames.
“It was pretty intense,” said Barnhart. “I mean, you can see the smoke billowing up and the fire and there were 15 fire engines there. [The flames] were pretty aggressive and not going down. You could see the firemen on the roofs up here. There were fire trucks behind as well as in front here.”
No one was injured during the fire and crews were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the interiors of other businesses inside the plaza. Firefighters were able to keep the blaze contained to four units.
There was, however, plenty of secondary damage done to units from heavy smoke along with water and falling debris.
“I feel really bad about this and people’s livelihood and they’re basically out of business for a while,” said Barnhart.
The roof collapsed during the firefight, but no injuries were reported.
The blaze caused about $1 million in damages to the structure and an additional $250,000 to the building’s contents, fire officials said.
The cause remains under investigation.