Blaze damages Hollywood businesses
Hollywood mayor vows to rebuild; officials investigate
A firefighter extinguishes a hotspot at Little Venice restaurant after an early morning fire destroyed several businesses along Hollywood's Broadwalk on Thursday.
HOLLYWOOD — Flames swept along a row of businesses on Hollywood’s Broadwalk early Thursday, damaging several businesses including the Little Venice restaurant and Blue Wave Bar& Grill.
The fire is another blow to local restaurants and businesses already struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic. State fire marshals are working to determine exactly what caused the two-alarm blaze.
The fire was reported by a passer-by at about 4:45 a.m. and was still smoldering in places by 7 a.m. Firefighters were able to extinguish a small hot spot that flamed up inside La Brochetterie at about10 a.m.
The majority of the fire was extinguished within 10 to 15 minutes, with an assist from Broward County Fire Rescue, according to Hollywood Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Analdy Garcia.
All businesses affected are located at 901 to 913 North Broadwalk, he said. The area is near Buchanan Street and North Surf Road, south of the Margaritaville complex.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries, but people were waking up to a block of burned out buildings in an area known as a tourist draw and popular exercise route.
Mayor Josh Levy, a Hollywood native, said the building involved has always been a prominent destination on the Broadwalk, both for its central location and as a source of “great pizza and great sandwiches.”
Arriving Thursday morning to find it turned into “a charred twist of metal and burned plastic,” Levy pledged to expedite the rebuild of “people’s dreams and livelihoods.”
“We’re going to work with property owner and tenants to facilitate themost speedy recovery that could be,” Levy said. “It’s unfortunate, but we’ll recover. We’ll help them recover and we’ll have to get through it together.”
Ocean Alley owner Debra Case was among the first to see the flames after being awakened by someone yelling below her 14th floor condo unit, which overlooks the restaurant. She called 911 at 4:50 a.m. and snapped a few pictures as flames billowed from the building.
Case feared the worst, but she watched police and firefighters arrive within minutes andmake fast work of the flames.
“They contained it really quickly. They did an awesome job,” Case said.
She walked down to discover her restaurant, in a stand-alone cement building on the south end of the string of a half-dozen businesses, was relatively unscathed. Case said Ocean Alley should be able to open thisweekend.
“We have a lot of soot in the air and smoke intrusion, but no water, no damages anywhere. After cleaning we can probably open on Saturday. That’s my goal,” Case said. Marcella Jaramillo, the owner of At Peru restaurant, said the eatery has only minor damage, but her workers would have towait a few days to come back towork.
“What we can do now is just pray and be hoping for better days,” she said.
Hollywood Grill Armenian Cuisine also sustained fire damage.
Kalev Kangro does promotions for several restaurants along the Broadwalk, including the fire-gutted Little Venice.
“They changed owners about three months ago and they invested a lot of money on renovations and the owner really loves the place,” he said. “It’s a shame it happened.”