The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Several business owners at Barcroft Plaza are assessing what comes next after a fire tore through the shopping center Thursday morning, damaging multiple attached businesses.
Crews in Baileys Crossroads worked quickly to extinguish a two-alarm fire Thursday morning at the shopping center. Among the businesses damaged were a martial arts studio, a swimming school, and a Benjamin Moore paint store. Several other businesses, like the restaurant Spice Circle, had extensive smoke damage.
Employees there spent Thursday cleaning up debris instead of serving customers. New Year’s is typically one of the restaurant’s busiest days, according to the manager, but operations were halted because of the fire.
“I’m so sad because it’s my brother’s restaurant, and they worked really hard to build this one,” said Ali Nouman, the manager of Spice Circle.
Nouman said his brother opened the restaurant about two years ago in Barcroft Plaza. He learned about the fire after checking the restaurant’s surveillance cameras.
“So the first reaction was I thought, ‘Oh my God,” Nouman said. “We see a firefighter was everywhere. We were literally shocked, and we were so stressed out.”
“It was a whole disaster here,” he said. “You see smoke everywhere. It goes from my kitchen in the back, and I see the firefighter just unhooked the doors, and they were just rushing inside.”
Nouman said the damage forced the restaurant to cancel all catering orders and discard nearly everything inside.
“We are expecting about 20,000 plus loss in one day, and our foods plus our disposable things, we trash it,” he said.
Firefighters were first called to the Barcroft Plaza shopping center in the 6300 block of Columbia Pike for a report of a commercial building fire just after 9 a.m. Given the size of the building and the number of businesses potentially impacted, a second alarm was called to get more resources to the scene. Firefighters from Arlington County and the City of Alexandria also responded on Thursday.
Fairfax County battalion chief Matthew Tamillow said the responding crews were able to keep flames contained to the building where the fire started, but neighboring businesses were damaged by smoke.
The fire was contained within 20 minutes of firefighters arriving on scene, Tamillow said. No civilian or firefighters were hurt.
It was one of three fires Fairfax County crews responded to on Thursday morning.
The fire department didn’t specify if there was any connection between the fires.
Back at the Barcroft Plaza Thursday night, investigators were seen going in and out of what was once a martial arts studio, taking photographs and examining the damage. A dog from the fire marshal’s office was also brought in as part of the investigation.
Nouman said he is concerned about the neighboring businesses that were destroyed and hopes the community will support those affected.
“We lost a lot today, and we want them to come back and support us,” he said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The estimated cost of damage to all of the businesses is still unclear.