Fells Point Bridal Shop Destroyed In 2-Alarm Blaze
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—A Fells Point bridal shop is destroyed following a 2-alarm fire over Labor Day weekend.
Thick plumes of smoke take over the 1700 block of Eastern Ave. on Sunday night.
"At first you could see the gowns, you could see into the store, then like that, you couldn't see anything," said Robert Jaron.
Jaron is one of the first to reach 911 after he saw flames shooting out of Bridal Fashions by Niko.
"Sure enough we looked over and you could see it, starting to smolder off the roof and all," said Jaron.
Firefighters arrived within minutes, but quickly have trouble.
"Units were able to make entry into the location but due to the unsafe fire conditions, the building was evacuated," said Samuel Johnson, a spokesperson for the Baltimore City Fire Department.
Neighboring businesses say once they saw flames they came banging on the front door of the store to make sure everyone was out. Luckily, no one was injured but the shop is a total loss.
Bob Klein's business is right next door. His property suffered only minor damage compared to the bridal shop.
"They have beautiful merchandise, very reputable, have no idea what happened and it's devastating to them," he said.
For bridges like Angela Pigg, her gown could've been inside the business.
She tells WJZ she picked up her gown not even two weeks ago and says this is a nightmare no bridge ever wants to experience.
"To all the bridges that do have dresses there, I couldn't even imagine," said Pigg.
But in the midst of Labor Day weekend and a packed downtown area, some feel there's a silver lining in this dark cloud.
"It could've been a lot worse, thank god no was injured, no one was here," says Klein.
WJZ's Rick Ritter spoke with one man working on repairs who says the owners of the shop were out here briefly overnight, but were too devastated to stick around or come back out today.
No word on the exact amount of damage but the Baltimore City Fire Department estimates at the very least, a few hundred thousand dollars.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.