Fire rips through mostly vacant south Sacramento strip mall along Florin Road
SACRAMENTO – Firefighters went on the defensive quickly as a fire ripped through a mostly vacant strip mall in south Sacramento early Friday morning.
Sacramento Fire crews responded to the scene along the 3800 block of Florin Road, near Franklin Boulevard, just before 4:30 a.m. and found heavy flames coming from the side of a strip mall.
Most of the building is abandoned, but a handful of businesses were still open at the mall.
Two business owners say they lost everything.
"I came through the gate and drove closer and could not believe what I saw with my eyes; the whole building was on fire," said Mack Block, who has been the owner of Mack Lab Media Group for 25 years.
A possible roof collapse forced firefighters to quickly go on the defensive and try and battle the flames from the outside.
Water supply issues also complicated the initial response, with crews having to run hoses across the street – leading to a full closure of Florin Road for a time.
"There are hard drives that I've been working on since 2015, 2010 that I cannot get back at all, you following what I'm saying," Block said.
Paul Joseph Yang opened a ministry. He said his uncle recently died and after he helped him furnish the ministry that is now gone. Yang said the ministry was not insured.
"It's a lot to take, it's a lot, especially my uncle," Yang said. "And he helped put everything in and said the thing is, he passed away last month, October 30th, and the funeral is tomorrow."
With the loss, the two business owners said it's hard to fathom what they will do next.
No injuries have been reported.
Exactly what started the fire will be investigated.
