VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Less than a day after a massive fire at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront destroyed several businesses, people in the community are taken back by what happened.
The Virginia Beach Fire Department worked late into the night to put out the fire, on Atlantic Avenue. It was out by 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, but firefighters are continuing to search for hotspots Wednesday.
It's unknown what caused the fire at this time.
On Wednesday morning, crews with Virginia Beach Fire Department were still putting out hotspots.
Mark Crane, a Virginia Beach resident who lives across the street from the burnt-down building, said it was hard to see outside.
“Around 9 o'clock, you couldn’t stand outside," Crane told 13News Now. "It was smokey [and] went right into your clothes. You couldn’t be outside, You just couldn’t."
“On the day before yesterday, people were super friendly in the store [T-Shirt Factory]. Same thing with the restaurant, we just ate there [King of the Sea] Monday night,” Frank Simmons, who was on vacation for his third time to Virginia Beach this summer, said.
"Now to see it gone, just mind-blowing,” he added.
Marcus Jordan isn’t sure what he’ll do next, after working his way up from dishwasher to cook at the Maple Tree Pancake House, a place he’s worked for almost 40 years.
"You just got to be positive, everything will work out,” Jordan said, seeing his place of work burnt down for the first time Wednesday morning.
“As long as everybody is safe,” he added.
Property owner surveys damage, empathetic toward his longtime tenants
John Vakos Sr., the property owner, spent time Wednesday surveying the damage and trying to turn the water off to the building, as he figures out his next moves.
His father built the property more than 60 years ago.
“Everything has a life including buildings," Vakos told 13News Now.
He also owns the building right behind the destruction, which houses Lyfestyle Meals along with four apartments upstairs. He moved the people living there to a nearby hotel overnight, but only one unit appears to have significant damage.
He said his heart goes out to his longtime tenants who lost their businesses in the fire.
“I feel sorry for some of the people who lost their future income," Vakos said. "It’s like you have a restaurant and you work there for a huge number of years. You try to sell it when you retire, but you have nothing to sell.”