Smoky fire at Swap Shop in Lauderhill
FORT LAUDERDALE - An early morning fire erupted at the famed Swap Shop in Lauderhill.
When firefighters arrived they found intense flames and thick smoke coming from three storage containers that were burning.
Lauderhill Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Levy said the fire broke out around 4 a.m. He said firefighters had to cut open the metal containers to get to the fire.
"As were en route, Lauderhill PD was relaying information to us that they heard explosions which they thought might be fireworks and such in the containers. We did find some boxes inside the container that are labeled 'explosive' which would lead us to believe that there might be fireworks in there, but that will come out during the investigation," said Levy.
A canopy caught on fire while they were battling the flames. Firefighters were able to keep it from spreading to other areas of the Swap Shop and extinguished it within 15 minutes.
The containers are rented by different owners who have booths there. Harrison Clark is a part-time vendor.
"We have the online stores and stuff like that but some of these people, like where you see the actual fire, they could have lost everything," he said.
Thousands of dollars of merchandise went up in smoke.
What sparked by fire is being investigated by the state's Fire Marshal.
This is not the first container fire at the Swap Shop. Last April, a fire scorched several storage containers and a movie screen