Fire Leaves 5 Small Businesses in Ashes : Disaster: Shopkeepers and customers try to cope in the aftermath of a $1-million fire at a San Fernando shopping center.

Jesus Esparza was stunned when he went to the dry cleaners Thursday to pick up three custom-made pink dresses for the bridesmaids at his sister’s wedding this weekend.

Imperial Cleaners, where he has done business for years, was gone. Only the burnt hulk of a building remained after a fire destroyed most of a small shopping center at Glenoaks Boulevard and Hubbard Street in San Fernando early Thursday.

The fire swept through Imperial Cleaners and four other small businesses in the shopping center about 1:30 a.m, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. The other burned businesses included a video-repair store, TV World; Graciana Mexican Deli, All That Video and My Bakery.

There were no injuries and the fire’s cause remains under investigation, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells.

It was unclear where the blaze began, but it spread rapidly across the one-story building through a common attic. About 60 firefighters quelled the fire in 40 minutes, Wells said.

Firefighters were slowed because they had to rip off strips of insulation from the interior of the attic to get at the blaze, fire officials said.

Witnesses said that firefighters climbed off the building’s roof just seconds before it collapsed.

“I watched my business burn. It was terrible. There was nothing I could do,” said George Dolatli, 33, who operated All That Video, a video rental store.

Dolatli, who estimated his losses at about $150,000, hurried to the incident after he was contacted by his alarm company. He said he immediately returned home upon seeing that his store was destroyed.

“I felt very helpless,” he said, as he sifted through the debris. “All of our inventory and computerized records were destroyed. Even the backup computer melted.”

Dolatli was just one of about 25 people--owners and customers--who gathered at the gutted structure Thursday afternoon.

“What should I do?” asked a visibly shaken Russell Brial, owner of My Bakery as he surveyed the damage. “Even if I rebuild here, will my customers ever come back?”

As he paced around the ruins, Brial was approached by a woman who had ordered two cakes there Wednesday evening.

“Will I be able to get my money back? Will you be open again soon?” asked Susan Chavez, who lives about three blocks away.

Chavez, 31, said she was a longtime customer at the shopping center and rented two videos there Wednesday. “I guess I won’t be bringing them back any time soon,” she said.

Ed Majors, 67, a nearby resident, said he left a suit at Imperial Cleaners on Wednesday. “You come here for years and then ‘boom!’--and it’s all gone,” he said.

Edgar Bravo, 37, who works nearby, said he will miss eating lunch at Graciana Mexican Deli. “They used to have a great carnitas plate,” Bravo said.

Meanwhile, Esparza, 44, after inspecting the area for about 15 minutes, said the three wedding dresses--worth $85 each--were a minor loss compared to the woes faced by the business owners.

“This isn’t so bad for us. We lost those dresses, but everything will be all right for my sister’s wedding,” he said, scratching his head and smiling. “We will buy the prettiest dresses we can buy Saturday. They won’t be custom-made, but they will be the best we can find.”