VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – In the aftermath of the Oceanfront fire that destroyed three businesses, including the T-Shirt Factory, business owners are trying to pick up the pieces as the destruction continued to attract attention from bystanders.
“I’ve never seen like three businesses get destroyed,” one man said.
Three Oceanfront businesses burned to the ground Tuesday – the T-Shirt Factory, Maple Tree Pancake House and King of the Sea Seafood – and are now rubble after the large fire. Those businesses, and their employees, are now having to decide on next steps following the three-alarm blaze.
Officials said the fire started around 5 p.m. and, not too long after, the flames quickly spread through all three businesses, taking more than 75 firefighters about five hours to put out the flames. Virginia Beach Fire Investigator Jim Ingledue told 10 On Your Side officials do not know yet where the fire began.
But one woman said that wasn’t the end of the fight.
“The fire started and they put it out and then they went back in to make sure everything was out and then the fire started up again,” said onlooker Cynthia Dillard. “It was awful, it was terrible we were wondering whether or not someone was in there maybe someone got hurt but we were told that everybody got out safely”
The sight of the destruction slowed traffic Wednesday afternoon, and bystanders called the scene sad, scary and completely devastating.
“To know that there were thriving businesses there,” said onlooker Mary McHenry. “You have to just feel bad for the people now who are out of work and lost their jobs and the owners who lost probably everything they ever had.”
Ryan Yeates, who works across the street at Benny’s Pizza, saw the start of the fire and said Benny’s was lucky. If the wind was blowing in the other direction, his store could have met the same fate.
“It was pretty scary,” Yeates said. “We were just kind of waiting to see if there was a shift in the wind because we would’ve had to close. We got real lucky it was blowing that way.”
Not only did he see the flames, he also felt them, too.
“Do you ever have a hot wind blowing at you? Or like you open up the oven and you get that blast of air? It’s like that but kind of like everywhere and it’s constant,” Yeates said. “It’s not just one blast it doesn’t go away.”
A cook at the Pancake House, Marcus Jordan Sr., told 10 On Your Side’s KaMaria Braye that this fire is something that’s hard to process.
“A hard process cause like I said I been here for working 30-something years. Coming to work, I was ready to come to work this morning to do my job. As long as everybody’s safe that’s a good thing.”
According to the city of Virginia Beach, land records show that the building dates back to 1945 and is owned by Matt Vakos of the Vakos family, which has owned business at the Oceanfront for generations.
One of the dynamic sounds from the video showing the destruction of three businesses on Atlantic Avenue is that of what’s believed to be an exploding propane tank.
One of those destroyed businesses, the King of the Sea Restaurant owned by Andy Zavolas and Deepak Patel, had just completed a renovation of the entire restaurant April 1.
“We spent almost four or five months trying to get everything together,” Zavolas said. “We put it back together, and finally got the season started and this happened.”
Zavolas was inside the restaurant when he and some of his employees saw and smelled smoke coming through the ceiling. They ran out with other workers, and no one in the three businesses was hurt in this massive fire event.
“The best thing is that everyone got out safe,” Zavolas said. “That’s what we were worried about.”
Patel said he didn’t think the fire wouldn’t be as serious as it turned out to be.
“I thought it was going to be something minor,” Patel said. “It took so much time to get it under control. We never thought it would get this far.”
The Virginia Beach fire marshal’s office is investigating and was seen testing what is left of the roof.
In the afternoon, the Virginia Beach Fire Department returned to the scene to spray down a smoldering hotspot.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Zavolas said. “We’ve been here 23 years, we put our effort in here, our life in here. It’s devastating just to look at something like this, the ending of what happened here.”
Property owner John Vakos explained why the fire may have burned for so long, and so hot.
“I think in time everything has a life,” Vakos said. “I’ve never seen a fire like that. It had about, I would say, five layers of roof over the top of it. That’s what was burning. That’s what caused so much damage. How it started, we don’t know.”
Matt Vakos, John’s son, had a message from the family.
“The Vakos family wants to extend our hearts and prayers to the business owners who lost what was theirs,” Matt Vakos said, “and to the employees who no longer have jobs. We are grateful and blessed that no one was hurt. We hope to rebuild, and be back open for business in April 2024.