VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Warning signs and blue tarps surround the commercial building on Holland Road in Virginia Beach Tuesday. Despite the fire damage, the business remains open.
"We are not in the business of stopping, pausing, or relenting by any means — we are pushing forward harder than before," said Cavelle Mollineaux.
Mollineaux is a broker and owner of ONYX Realty Professionals. He said he got a call around 6:30 Monday morning, telling him his business caught on fire on the corner of Holland Road and Lynnhaven Parkway.
By the time he got there, the building had extensive damage throughout.
"About 90% of the overall structure is impacted whether it be smoke, water, or fire damage," said Mollineaux. "We're grateful we made it out, it could have been a lot worse."
Virginia Beach business catches fire
Crews got the fire under control by 7:10 a.m.
While business owners are combing through the pieces of the building to recover what they can, Mollineaux said they are not closed.
Instead, he switched nearly 100 employees to start working remotely.
"The building itself and what we have lost is not scary to us because that is our field, so we know that the building can be built back just as new and better," said Mollineaux.
In the meantime, Mollineaux said employees can work in the event space building which is considerably less impacted by the fire than the main building.
During the response, a Virginia Beach firefighter suffered minor injuries to his leg. A spokeswoman with the fire department said the firefighter has since been treated and released from the hospital.
Mollineaux said he wants the credit and aid to go toward the Virginia Beach Fire Department Foundation. Donations can be made to the VBFD Foundation online.
"That's where I want to put my focus because we all made it out okay, and that does not always happen," said Mollineaux.
The cause of the fire and where it exactly originated is still under investigation.
It's unclear how long the rebuilding process will take for all the impacted businesses.