Much Loved Miami Beach Business Destroyed In Blaze
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) -- Morning for a Miami Beach business started off, sadly, with a blaze.
Smoke billowed out of Vemar Market and Cafe on Washington Avenue as crews worked all morning to put out the fire.
Miami Beach Firefighters got out of the building fearing the roof would collapse and thankfully they did. The roof later caved in.
Firefighters resorted to using ladder trucks to douse the flames - but a water source was hard to find. Firefighters had to create a chain of hoses.
The owners are devastated about the market which opened in 1996. It's a spot Miami beach locals love for their morning Cuban coffee and rows of hot food.
Employees said they smelled smoke this morning and the owner told them cigarettes may be the cause.
"He say 5:30 in the morning it smell no good....owner think somebody smoking," said an employee.
At last check, fire rescue hasn't confirmed if any other surrounding businesses were damaged but from Chopper4 it looked like the entire commercial building is a loss.
Police even closed off the 1500 block of Washington Avenue due to the fire around 8 a.m.
Luckily, no injuries were reported.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.