Rowena Mariano stood forlornly Friday morning outside what only hours earlier had been her business, the TFS Asian Foodmart, in the Algonquin Plaza on Rt. 52 in the Town of Newburgh. All that was left was charred remains of what had been her family’s livelihood.

Mariano said she and her husband had moved the business to the Algonquin Plaza last August and held their grand opening in September.

“We’re trying to …,” she began, then stopped, looking for the proper words to express her grief. “It’s a good area. We hope to rebuild something right away,” she said. “I hope my insurance is paid up,” she said, laughing at the mere thought.

Mariano said that she was first informed about the fire when one of her customers called her while she was taking her breakfast.

“She said that something had happened on the strip mall. So, we came and we saw the fire at the camera store.

“I really saw that my store was on fire and the smoke was coming out from everywhere.”

According to town officials, the blaze started at about 8:30 a.m. in the attic above Monell’s Camera Store. Ray Tadry, owner of Monell’s, reportedly had gone to the bank shortly before the fire broke out. By the time he returned, smoke was pouring out of the attic area of his store.

Gerald Canfield, Code compliance supervisor for the Town of Newburgh, said that a fire wall on the west side of that store kept the fire from spreading to the other half of the plaza. The post office at the western edge of the plaza was untouched by the flames as were Adams Flooring, NYC Flair Fashion and J.B.’s Luncheonette.

Canfield said that the post office was open on Monday and that the luncheonette was awaiting Health Department approval that is required of food establishments in the event of fire. Electrical service was quickly restored to the western half of the plaza, he said.

As of late Monday, no cause had been determined for the fire, but Canfield said that investigators were concentrating on an electrical heating system that was being used in the area above the Monell’s Camera Store at the time of the fire.

Of the 10 stores in the plaza, five were ravaged by the blaze.

Unfortunately, there was no fire wall on the eastern side of the camera store and the flames raced unabated through the attic area of the plaza wreaking havoc on the Asian foodstore, the Woodbury Cleaners, Lawrence B. Miller Insurance Co., and the offices of the 100th Assembly District served formerly by the late Tom Kirwan.

Staff members of Kirwan’s office reportedly were continuing to serve the district from the office while plans are being made to hold a special election in March.

Within hours of the blaze, the fire had been extinguished, a crane had arrived and demolition had begun on the destroyed portion of the businesses in that half of the plaza. A short time later two large receptacles were on the scene and debris was already being cleared from the site.

Donna and Gary Adams, owners of Adams Flooring and of the plaza for the past 16 years, said they were devastated by Friday’s events.

“We worked very hard on this plaza, especially during these tough times,” Donna Adams told a reporter. “We lost half of our building, but they [the other businesses] lost their business; that’s their livelihood,” she said.

The Adamses are working with their insurance company in hopes of rebuilding the plaza by the month of June.

It was a credit to the swift work of fire companies from five departments that only half the plaza was lost. Firefighters from Winona Lake, Cronomer Valley, Orange Lake, Goodwill and Coldenham fire departments responded to the fire.

Winona Lake Fire Chief Andrew Colurciello credited the flame-retardent fire wall at the western side of Monell’s Camera store with saving that half of the plaza.

By ALLAN GAUL
agaul@tcnewspapers.com