Predawn Blaze Guts 4 Anaheim Businesses

A fire early Sunday morning destroyed four businesses in an Anaheim strip mall, causing an estimated $1.5 million in damages, fire authorities said.

About 80 firefighters from Anaheim, Fullerton and Orange rushed to the 900 block of North Euclid Street at 2:40 a.m.

Witnesses said flames shot up about 200 feet.

“The flames were gargantuan. The whole building was pure orange flames,” said Tracie Pike, who lives nearby.

Firefighters said the blaze began at a dentist’s office, and spread north, destroying a ham radio store, a water supply store and a video store. The fire also damaged a gun shop and a taekwondo studio.

Firefighters did not know the cause of the blaze but found it suspicious that a car exploded behind the mall shortly after it began.

The fire could not have caused the explosion because the car was parked too far away, said Bruce Jacobson, spokesman for the Anaheim Fire Department.

Firefighters took 1 1/2 hours to control the blaze, which spread through a common attic and a stucco awning with a wood frame that ran along the front and back.

Sirens awoke residents in the surrounding neighborhood and some worried the fire might spread to the houses behind the mall. “I kept hearing the sirens. They wouldn’t quit. Every time I thought they were done, another would come by,” Pike said.

Calvin Tran, owner of Euclid Auto Parts, which was not damaged in the fire and remained open, said people had been coming by all day to check on his store and the others.

He said the surrounding neighborhood will feel the loss of the businesses. “This doesn’t just hit the owners. It hits the community too,” he said.