NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. — You could see the smoke for miles, and the smoke from a fire has blanketed a neighborhood in North Tonawanda on Monday.
Crews fought the flames for more than eight hours now at a small shopping plaza at the corner of Division and East Goundry Street.
Hours after the flames went away, the smoke was still very thick.
Residents living around the area say they're doing what they can to deal with it.
Abby Meyer, with her face covered with a scarf, rode her bike to check on family members living nearby.
She herself lives on Goundrey Street, in one of the houses closest to the fire and smoke, coming off the burning shopping plaza on division street.
"It gives me like, really bad asthma, so I just really don't like to do that, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm just hoping it will be done soon, and then everyone will be OK," she said.
According to witnesses, the fire started around 9 a.m. at a laundromat at the shopping plaza.
Lynn Pfeifer says she called 911.
Despite what we heard from witnesses on the scene, it's important to note that the fire chief still hasn't officially confirmed what started this fire.
It was around noon Monday that North Tonawanda Fire Chief Joe Sikora said he thought the fire was just about out.
The fire is definitely out, but there are some hot spots.
And the fire department enlisted the services of a local developer and their excavator to root through the wreckage, as well as take down the structure that’s still standing.
The fire chief tells us the building is a complete loss, and the owner, as well as those running the four businesses within the small shopping plaza, have been notified.
Closest to 2 On Your Side on the corner was a deli. Then a computer services shop, a barber shop, and finally a laundromat.
And it’s in that laundromat that witnesses say the fire started, but fire investigators still haven’t confirmed this.
Around 9 a.m. the fire began, and it quickly spread throughout the building.
North Tonawanda Fire Chief Joe Sikora said Monday afternoon that firefighters had some trouble getting gas shut off to the building.
They easily turned off the outside feed, but they had to wait for National Fuel to help them with the interior line to the laundromat.
There were also some problems securing water pressure to the trucks.
At one point, the roof the building caved in.
And while this gave the ladder trucks better access to put water on the flames, the burning asphalt shingles spewed black smoke, which could be seen miles away.
A police officer will stay on the scene overnight to keep an eye on things.
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