A group of business owners in Dallas are forced to close their doors during a busy holiday season due to fire damage.
Dallas Fire Rescue (DFR) said someone passing by the shops off of Lovers Lane and Inwood Drive reported a fire just before 6 a.m. on Saturday.
They said the fire was reported at 5405 W. Lovers Ln., Campisi’s restaurant.
Firefighters said they arrived on scene to smoke coming out of the roof. They said that although the fire was mostly contained to the attic area, it did spread, requiring a second alarm response.
As of around 8 a.m., DFR said the fire was mostly knocked down, but around 45-50 firefighters were still trying to extinguish hot spots.
Investigators said the fire damaged the attic space of at least 4 businesses, but there were no reported injuries.
DFR said they are still working to figure out the cause of the fire.
Kenny Penn, president of Campisi’s, said he got a call from his cousin around 6:30 a.m. and ran to check it out.
“Well, you’re never prepared for that,” he said. “It’s just tough. Employees started showing up for their shifts, we didn’t have time to call them ahead of time. And so, everybody’s just kind of stunned, you know, it’s our busiest time of year.”
Penn said it felt like someone in the family was getting hurt.
“People obviously upset, crying, because we’re a big family here,” he said.
Penn said they’re encouraging customers to visit one of their other eight locations.
“It’s never a good time, and especially these employees going through the holidays and depending on this, but they’re going to be taken care of,” he said.
It’s the same feeling next door, at Johnny Rodriguez the Salon.
“All we can do is continue to try to move forward and see the bigger picture and just do everything in our power to support those around us, support our employees, and just keep moving forward,” said Aric Rodriguez, the general manager.
He said that according to their contractors, some walls will have to be replaced, as well as ceilings.
Rodriguez said they had to reschedule 30-40 clients who were supposed to fill seats on Saturday, but then found out they would have to be closed for at least a couple of months.
“It’ll be a process, for sure, but all we can be is hopeful,” he said.
It’s typically a busy time of year, Rodriguez said, but they are still counting their blessings.
“It could’ve been a lot worse. And, luckily, no one was hurt,” he said.
